The Anderson Family Values
by Klainers
Summary: Glee fan fiction based on the lives of Blaine Anderson and his family.
1. Chapter 1

The Anderson Family Values

Part 1

"Remind me, why is it you can't come over tonight?" Kurt asked Blaine sitting across from him at a freshly cleaned table at Ohio's Lima Bean. Blaine gave him a guilty look taking a sip of coffee before answering his question.

"We're having a family dinner tonight." He answered emphasizing on the 'family dinner' part, he rolled his eyes and went on. "It's all part of a bonding thing that my mom wants us to try." Blaine looked over at the busy desk where people were ordering their drinks. He began to wonder if anyone of those people would have a stack of family problems as high as his. Of course he loved his family, especially his younger sister and older brother but things were so strained and he felt it was all his fault. Ever since he came out as being gay things had just gotten worse and worse, the Anderson's were once seen as a perfect family. People complemented them on how close they all seemed, how lovely and polite their children were, how handsome and hardworking the father was and how beautiful the mother. However now, anyone who knew them walked by with a polite smile on their face, thinking 'Thank god my family never turned out like theirs.'

"I guess I can understand." Kurt said bring Blaine's attention back to him. "Just call me after and tell me how it goes, will you?" He took his hand and squeezed it tightly in his.

"Of course." Blaine replied smiling at him.

Later that evening a majority of the Anderson's sat around the table. Sat next to Blaine was Alice the youngest of the children, a gorgeous, talented girl with deep drown eyes and the trademark Anderson family dark curls. She looked down at her empty plate, her leg swinging beneath the table almost nervously. Across from her sat the eldest son, Ryan. A handsome twenty year old who spent most of his time studying at University to become a doctor, when he wasn't there he escaped the family troubles by staying with his long-term girlfriend Stacey. Next to him was their mother, Tanya, still beautiful despite the lines of stress and age appearing on her face, she pattered her fingers on the table impatiently, quietly annoyed as next to her was a seat at the head of the table where her husband should have been sitting. Blaine let out a sigh, they had been waiting for almost half an hour. All sitting tensely awaiting Richard Anderson's arrival. The dinner sat in the middle of the table would be getting cold.

"Can we just eat?" Alice mumbled quietly, not her usual confident self.

"No!" Their mother snapped. "This is a family dinner, I told your father about our plans. He'll probably have just been kept back at work." Her eyes moved to the door of the well designed dining room. The room was much like rest of the large house that the family stayed in, well furnished with expensive items and filled with family pictures of happier times which the whole family hated but wouldn't dare say. They were well off in many different ways but a good relationship was something they found hard to maintain.

"You honestly still believe he's going to show?" Ryan finally said sick of waiting.

Tanya sighed, shaking her head. "Fine, you kids eat but leave some for your father and I. I'll have dinner with him when he appears." With that she left the room and the children started to dig in to the meal their stay at home mother had been working on all day for this special family dinner.

"I knew this would happen." Ryan said filling his plate with potatoes. "Do want some Alice?"

"Yeah, please." She answered quietly.

"Hey, don't worry about it to much ok. He's an idiot for not showing but you can't say you didn't expect it." He said trying to comfort her.

"I know, to be honest I'm kind of glad he didn't come. It would have been awkward anyway." Alice said. Her brothers smiled in silent agreement whilst they all began to eat. "Oh gosh, it's freezing!" She laughed almost back to her old ways.

"Are you guys up for putting this down the drain and telling mom we're going out for some bonding time when really we're getting pizza?" Ryan suggesting, poking at the cold beef on his plate.

"Yes." Blaine and Alice said in unison. The three of them quickly put their plan into action and were out the door soon enough. Unknowingly to them Tanya had figured out exactly what they had done but rather than it annoying her it made her smile, this to her proved that there was still hope left in her family. Her children got on perfectly and that was enough to keep her happy for the time being. She grabbed a cloth and began to clean the empty plates awaiting the arrival of her husband.

"Well I am officially stuffed." Blaine said coming out of the pizza restaurant his brother and sister at either side of him. They all laughed as they slowly walked along the pavement.

"Let's just walk around for a bit, work off the food. I'm not in any hurry to get home anytime soon." said Ryan, he didn't need an answer to know that his younger siblings would agree with him.

"So Ryan, have you made any plans as to how you're going to tell dad about the whole University/Stacey situation?" Alice wondered. This was a good moment for them all to catch up, she always enjoyed times like these with her brothers despite the fact her father wasn't the best topic of discussion it just was just nice to be able to talk about things with someone. Not a lot of people had the closeness she shared with them so she took full advantage of it.

"I don't know how." He sighed. "I mean what way is there to tell your father that you dropped out of University to be with your girlfriend who you got pregnant."

"That's true, but in a way Stacey getting pregnant was a godsend, you never wanted to be a doctor." Blaine added. "And plus you two have been together since you were sixteen at least it's with someone you love." It was dark out but they continued to walk feeling safe in each others company. 

"I know, I am happy about it. though it wasn't planned things always happen for a reason. I just need to figure out how to tell dad. Telling mom was easy but I know it's putting pressure on her that he doesn't know yet." He looked down at the stone pavement. For two years he had been living his fathers dream of becoming a doctor but he didn't have the guts to tell him that it wasn't what he wanted. Ryan looked at his brother, he admired him for coming out and being open about being gay. He knew it wasn't just some silly phase and honestly he was glad for him. However their father hadn't been so joyful about it, it was almost embarrassing the way his father had acted. Quiet at first, then trying every thing he could to see if he could change him but it was stupid to think fixing cars and a few football games would change anything.

"And what about New Directions?" Alice continued to question them. "Are they treating you well?"

"Yeah it's going pretty good, they've accepted me mostly with open arms." He answered. Suddenly he remembered something. "Hey guys, I forgot to tell you!" Blaine jogged to stand in front, stopping them in their tracks. Alice smiled at Ryan. "You are now looking at the male lead for McKinley High's production of Westside Story!"

Alice squealed, clapping. "You're playing Tony?" Blaine nodded taking her in his arms as she came over to hug him. "Congratulations!"

"Well done, Blaine." Ryan congratulated him, hugging him once Alice had been pulled away from her tight hold.

"We better get tickets!" She giggled pointing her finger at him.

"You definitely will, I promise." He told them. "We better start heading back before mom gets worried." He mentioned looking down at his watch before they turned back and headed towards the car.

"You know, I've also got a little announcement to make." Alice teased.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" Blaine asked her, playing along with her.

"You know how I tried out for the Glee club at St. Mary's?" She began to tell them. Alice had just recently joined St. Mary's High School for girls, she was a sophomore and was keen to join as many clubs as she could. "Well, not only did I get in but they promoted me straight away to lead singer!" Her face lit up as her brothers both hugged and congratulated her.

"Wow, I'm really going to have to up my game." Laughed Ryan, both shocked and happy about his families number of achievements. They drove home slowly, talking and laughing most of the way doing the same as they walked in the door. The house was quiet and reeked of tension, they realised their father must still not be home. Blaine opened the living room door and found Tanya sitting on the clean, white leather sofa staring up at the clock. She wiped her eyes quickly before standing up and greeting them with a faint smile.

"Mom, are you ok?" Blaine asked coming over and putting his arm around her.

"Of course, don't be silly. No need to worry about me. What were you three up to?" She asked quickly changing the subject. They fell silent, looking at one another half in wonder about their mother and half unsure what excuse to use.

"We went to the movies to see that new film." Ryan quickly thought. "You know the one about, uhm, zombies?"

"You kids." Tanya said putting on a brave face. "I don't understand how you bring yourselves to watch things like that." She laughed leaving the room, deciding to distract herself from her worries and annoyance by doing the washing she had left aside this morning so she could plan her meal. Her children watched her awkwardly, worried about their poor, stressed mom.

It wasn't until 10pm that evening until Richard Anderson finally staggered in the door. Ryan, Blaine and Alice were sitting comfortably on the sofas watching a movie when they heard him coming in, it wasn't long before the patter of their mothers feet were heard coming down the stairs. They exchanged worried looks.

"Where have you been?" Tanya snapped from behind the door.

Ryan began to speak quietly. "Maybe we should-"

"Where else would I have been, Tanya?" Richard mumbled drunkenly, almost laughing. He noisily took off his coat and shoes.

"But how can we-" Alice was interrupted.

"Look at you Richard, you're a mess." Tanya spoke, the anger obvious in her voice.

"I love you too, honey." He laughed again.

"We were meant to have a nice meal with the kids tonight. I was worried about you." She ignored his sarcasm.

"A nice meal?" He questioned, now shouting. "One of them is gay and another has a split personality. I only have one and a half nice kids." It wasn't often that Alice's problem was brought into these arguments that occurred often between her parents, however today it seemed it was and it broke her heart. The families strain had had a huge effect on Alice, especially when her father found out that she had known all along that Blaine was gay. The two had once shared a very close father-daughter relationship but as he pushed her away more and more she began to mentally breakdown. Memories of being dragged to hospital flashed into her head, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and taking pills every day to prevent it.

"Richard you are drunk, please go to bed and sleep it off."

"Don't tell me what to do, you're not my mother." Richard shouted before falling through the living room door. "Oh hello, nice family." He mumbled.

Alice put her face in her hands before running past him and heading up the stairs. "I see we have the bad side of her today then." He laughed shaking his head. Blaine stood up quickly glaring down at his feet and shoving past his drunk father, following Alice's footsteps. Richard rolled his eyes and made his way to the kitchen grabbing a bottle of wine from a cupboard and drinking from it. Upstairs Blaine sat on his sisters bedroom floor, she cried into his shoulder as he did his best to hold his own tears back. This was not the first time they had been in the same sort of position this week, in the past 5 days Richard had came home drunk for 3 of them and on the other 2 he had drank at home. One thing was for certain, Richard Anderson, once known as a handsome hardworking father of three was now a bitter and raging alcoholic. 


	2. Chapter 2

Guilt, regret, anger. These were just a few of the things that Blaine was feeling at that moment. He found himself forcing himself not to stumble as he walked up the street to his home. No one would be up, he had told them not to expect him home for some time. He took his keys from his pocket beginning to feel sick as he unlocked the door but not due to nerves, due to the fact he had just drank to much. He stumbled up the stairs towards his bedroom, closing the door behind him and sighing as he lay down on his bed.

Kurt was mad at him, that was for sure, he began to feel annoyed. He had denied the offer from the new Warbler, Sebastian, to go to the gay bar but when Kurt insisted he gave in. He began to regret going. However, whilst he was there he had had the time of his life, dancing with the guy he loved despite the fact that Sebastian was still being pretty full on towards him throughout the night. Afterwards was a different story though. He couldn't decide who he was more angry with, Sebastian, Kurt or himself. Before he got more frustrated Blaine clumsily got himself ready for bed.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, it opened before he got a chance to answer. Alice appeared from behind it in an oversized blue dressing gown. "Where have you been?" She asked quietly closing the door again. Her eyes looked half shut.

"I told you I was going out." Blaine said going to take a seat on the bed but just missed and fell onto the floor.

She glared at him and began to walk towards him. "Are you drunk?" She questioned in a less quiet tone.

"No!" He laughed trying to get back up but failing.

"Don't lie, Blaine." She mumbled, Blaine looked down at the floor guiltily. "How could you?" Her voice cracked.

"I... I'm sorry." He muttered.

"I just don't want you to turn out like dad." She began to cry for what must have been the hundredth time that month, it was becoming a normal thing for her these days.

"Oh Alice." Blaine said crawling over to her and taking her hands to pull her down onto the floor next to him. He took her head and pulled it onto his shoulder, stroking her hair. "I am so sorry for making you think that. I promise with all my heart that I will never do to you what he has done. Just, please don't be mad at me as well."

"As well?" She wondered out loud. "Who else is mad at you?"

"Kurt." He sighed.

"Really? How come?"

"Let's just say I did something really stupid and leave it at that." He answered.

"I suggest you talk to him. I know you love him, Blaine, and he loves you. He'll forgive you." She told him. Blaine smiled and kissed her on the top of her head before leaning on it. The two of them sat in silence until they both gradually fell asleep.

That morning Tanya went to Blaine's room to check that he had gotten home ok. She didn't expect to find him leaning against his bed with his younger sister in his arms but it wasn't a bad thing. Yes, the two of them would regret sleeping in that position and complain about a sore neck or a back but Tanya couldn't help but find it cute. She adored the closeness of her children and was glad that they still had that though the family was falling apart. She snatched Blaine's dirty clothes which were hanging over his desk chair and left the room quietly so that she wouldn't disturb them.

"Tonight's the big night!" Ryan chirped handing Blaine the box of cereal he had just poured a bowl full of. "Are you nervous?"

"A little but I'm glad you guys are all coming!" He smiled still exhausted from the night before. He looked over at Alice who was smiling over at him, he was glad she had forgiven him so quickly and hoped that Kurt would to.

"Of course, we wouldn't miss it for the world!" Tanya said placing a carton of semi-skimmed milk on the table.

The hustle of the kitchen continued for a short while until Richard swaggered into the room. "Morning." He mumbled walking over to the kettle to make himself a cup of coffee. The room fell silent. "What is no one going to speak to me today?" He quickly took a small bottle from his pocket and poured the contents into the mug he had retrieved from the cupboard and stirred it in with the hot water and grains of coffee.

"Morning." They all muttered quietly and then got back to what they were doing.

Only Ryan made an effort to speak. "So Dad, are you coming to see Blaine in Westside Story tonight?" The whole family watched him waiting for an answer.

He turned around the mug in his hand, looking as if he was thinking. "I might be working late tonight." He said not fully answering the question. Everyone was still for a moment, the whole situation felt uncomfortable.

"But dad, he's playing the male lead, you said you would come." Alice finally spoke breaking the silence. No one had ever spoken to him in that way. No one had ever dared to stand up to him. All eyes were on the youngest of the family.

"I told you, Alice, I'm working late." Richard said beginning to feel his temper rising.

"You said you might be, how come this never occurred to you before?" She snapped. "Maybe because you're lying, Dad."

"Honestly, Alice, it's fine." Blaine mumbled looking down at his half eaten bowl of cereal. He was disappointed and angry but the last thing he wanted was for Alice to get into an argument with their father.

"See Alice, it's fine but I must ask... have you taken your pills this morning?" Richard teased her, finding himself all quite funny. He grabbed the open bottle of milk from the table and poured it into his mug, taking a sip. The bitter taste mixed with the alcohol sent shivers through his body. Alice glared at him, how dare he even question her about that. She stood up from the table, threw her bowl into the sink and stormed out of the room slamming the door behind her.

"I'll take that attitude as a no then." He laughed and shook his head before taking another gulp of 'coffee'.

"She did take them dad, right before she ate." Blaine felt the need to say. There was no way he could just sit and take the way his dad had acted without saying at least something to defend the right of his little sister.

"Ok, jeez, I was only joking." Richard let out another cackle before grabbing the paper from the day before and heading out of the room. Tanya turned towards the sink and began to wash out Alice's discarded bowl so that her two sons wouldn't see her starting to well up.

That evening Tanya, Ryan and Alice sat down to watch Blaine play Tony in McKinley's production of Westside Story. The whole of the auditorium filled with family members, friends and teachers quickly and before they knew it the show was starting. Every seat in the place was filled but the one next to Tanya Anderson, Blaine felt a moment of sadness when he looked out onto the audience through a gap in the curtains and saw that empty space. Rachel, who was playing Maria, put her hand on his shoulder, "Good luck." She smiled.

"You too." He nodded.

"Oh my gosh, Blaine! That was amazing!" Alice squealed pulling him into a tight hug. "It was so beautiful... I cried." She pulled away from him grinning.

"And by that she means she cried all the way through it, I'm not joking start to finish. Then when mom started crying at the end I wasn't sure how to cope!" Ryan laughed hugging Blaine with one arm and patting his back to congratulate him. Alice rolled her eyes, laughing along.

"Sweetie you did absolutely great!" Tanya told him taking him in her arms and squeezing him tightly. "We're going to go out for dinner, do you want to come?"

Blaine looked around the auditorium now there were only a few people left cleaning up the aisles, others were on stage also cleaning away the props and setting them in a good place for the show the next night. "I think I'll stay here, need some time to practice a few moves for tomorrow night. You guys have fun though!" He said flashing them a faint smile. Tanya nodded and all three waved goodbye before leaving.

With the whole audience gone the auditorium didn't look so big and frightening. Blaine had to admit his slightly smaller scale audition had been easy compared to the show he had just helped put on that evening. However, he was more than glad that it seemed to go well. He waited until the huge room had finally emptied and began to practice a move he felt he needed to work on. Throughout this he thought about what he would say to Kurt next time he got a chance to speak to him properly. That morning when he had woken up with some sense he realised what he had done and he was ashamed. Then he heard the voice he wanted to hear most coming from behind him, he turned to face Kurt, his heart beating that little bit faster.

Alice sang to herself as she made her way through the upstairs corridor of the family home. She got a shock as she turned a corner and collided with Blaine. "Oh hi Blaine, you're up late today!" Then something caught her eye from behind him. "Hey Kurt... What are... Oh wait did, did you? Blaine! Oh my gosh!" He quickly put his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet unable to stop himself from grinning.

"Hi Alice." Kurt whispered, giggling quietly and putting his head on Blaine's shoulder.

Alice pushed Blaine's hand from her mouth. "I'll distract the family, I'll make something up about the Triple Threats. Just be quiet, ok?" She quickly ran down the stairs and into the living room where the rest of the family were sitting and began to babble on about the songs The Triple Threats were thinking of doing for Regionals, asking her family for advice.

"Your sister is so great, can I keep her?" Kurt laughed as they slowly made their way down the stairs. Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand as they rushed through the lobby and past the living room door.

"Goodbye beautiful." He whispered giving Kurt a kiss on the cheek before slowly opening the tall wooden door to set him free.

"Bye gorgeous." Kurt winked quickly kissing him on the lips before making a quick bolt away from the house. Blaine laughed shaking his head, thinking about how impossible it would be to ever love someone more than he loved him.

"Blaine, what are you doing?" Asked Richard seeing his soon lost in thought at the front door. He turned stunned, feeling slight panic. What if he had seen Kurt?

"He was looking for his keys, thinks he dropped them last night when he came in. Right, Blaine?" Alice said appearing behind Richard. She smirked over at him, a look on her face that suggested a line such as 'You owe me'.

"Yeah, that's right. No sign of them so far. Maybe they're just well hidden in my pocket or something. I'll go look again!" He told them quickly running up the stairs.

"Let me help!" Alice smiled, chasing after him. She followed him into his bedroom, quietly shutting the door behind her. "Your thanks is telling me what happened. Now go!"

"Alice... You're my little sister I can't tell you stuff like that!" Blaine shook his head and turned in his chair to face the desk.

"So you guys did do it then."

"Alice!" He laughed feeling his cheeks burn. "I have no idea what you mean." He lied pretending to be clearing up the things on his desk.

"You took your love to the next level, did the deed, made love, got all-"

"Ok, ok." Blaine gave up, Alice smirked leaning on the desk. "We did it! Are you happy now?"

"Blaine, you're blushing!" She giggled. "But yes I am happy, I'm happy for you." She sat on the edge of the desk looking down at her overly-smiley brother. In truth she was more than happy for him, in the past year he had went from going after guys he could never get to falling for that one person she could just tell would love him back forever. However, it also made her sad, he couldn't fully enjoy being in love because there were always people bringing him down for trying to be who he was.

At first it was bullies, middle school had been an extremely difficult time for him. Coming out was just one milestone. She remembered the day he told her, she was the first one to know and couldn't help feeling privileged that he had came to her first. That day she promised to support him no matter what and despite being secretly bullied herself she kept that promise to him. Even when her own father began to push her away because of it.

Before Blaine came out to the whole family Alice had been sure that each member would support him like she had. An image that remained vivid in her head was the look on her dads face when her brave brother had announced that he was gay. Just the thought made her stomach twinge with guilt. Her kind, hard-working and caring father showed a frown of disappointment, he went from smiling to a complete blank and it was the way it had stayed in her mind ever since.

Alice suddenly realised her eyes had began to well up and before Blaine could notice she threw her arms around his neck. "Woah, Alice, what's this for?" He asked patting her on the back.

"I just wanted you to know how amazing you are."


	3. Chapter 3

They marched along the corridors, one foot after the other. They were on a mission, determined to succeed. Alice walked through the door of McKinely High School's choir room, a troop of girls following on behind her. "Is this McKinely High Glee club?" She questioned with a small smirk on her face. Everyone turned looking at the group in confusion.

"Alice!" Kurt squealed running towards her and taking her hands.

"Hey Kurt! You are looking fabulous today. Wait a minute..." She lifted one arm gripping one of his fingers and gesturing for him to twirl. "Did you design this coat yourself?"

"Why yes, I did." He grinned showing off the coat a little more.

"You have to make something for me one day, you are too amazing!"

"Oh my gosh, yes! No one has ever asked me that before." He squealed. "I'm so excited! I'm going to totally-"

"Uhm... Excuse me?" Someone said interrupting their conversation. Alice recognised her as the girl who played Maria alongside Blaine in Westside story. Rachel, Blaine had said?. A girl he had also very briefly dated in a phase of confusion from what she remembered. "Rather than getting into to much detail on clothing may I ask exactly who you are and why you are all here?"

Alice smiled and walked towards her, putting out her hand to shake. Rachel looked down at it then back up at her causing her to put it back down quickly. "I'm Alice, Alice Anderson and these are the rest of St. Mary's Triple Threats. Your competition for regionals this year." She introduced them.

"Wait did you say Anderson?" Asked a boy in the seat next to Rachel. She assumed that from what Blaine had told her of McKinely that he would be Finn, step-brother of Kurt and boyfriend of Rachel.

"Yes. I'm guessing your asking as Blaine and I share the same last name. That would be because I'm his little sister." She told him. Finn looked her up and down, nodding as if eyeing up the competition.

"So why are you here, Alice?" Rachel asked both hands on her tiny waist.

"We are here to invite you to Breadstix on Friday after school, where we will be performing. It's a chance for you guys to check us out before we hit the stage at Regionals. The Warblers have already agreed to come along." She answered her clearly.

Rachel looked down at Finn, who nodded. "We'll be there." He said.

"Great! See you Friday then New Directions... Blaine I will see you at home." She laughed, turning to smile at the group of girls she had brought with her from St. Mary's. They slowly began to leave the room one after the other. Alice didn't notice the pair of bright blue eyes gazing at her from the back of the room the whole time. Foreign exchange student Rory Flanagan, from Ireland, was now certain that his Friday night had just gotten a whole lot better.

The Warblers and New Directions clapped as the Triple Threats finished up their all singing, all dancing performance of Beyonce's Countdown. One thing was for sure, they killed it. Alice's vocals mixed with the backing vocals and dancing of the Triple Threats stunned the audience. For an all girls school which had been branded as preppy they sure knew how to put on a show.

Still somehow filled with energy the girls moved between booths to talk to their guests and one another. "Hey!" Alice shouted excitedly greeting her brother and his boyfriend who were sitting happily at a table together. "So, what did you think?"

"That was amazing! For someone so small you sure do have a voice!" Kurt complimented her.

"Thank you!" She grinned.

"Great performance." A guy in a Warblers uniform said coming over to the table. His words were set towards Alice but his eyes were set on Blaine.

"Uhm, thanks." She said unable to recognise him. Alice knew all of the Warblers from when Blaine had been a part of the accapella show choir but he didn't look like a sophomore. "I'm Alice." She decided to tell him.

"Sebastian." He smirked finally taking his gaze off of her brother.

"Sebastian is new to Dalton." Blaine spoke. "He's the one that invited Kurt and I to the gay bar." He knew that straight away Alice would figure out who he was from this information. Once sober and alone with her he had explained everything that happened that night, forcing him to tell her about Sebastian and his full on ways.

"Oh... That Sebastian."

"Blaine's told you about me then?" He said, an even bigger smirk forming on his face.

"Can I talk to you for a minute, Sebastian, alone?" She asked. He nodded and followed her towards a quieter area of Lima's most popular restaurant which was now filled with members of 3 different show choirs.

"What is it you'd like to talk to me about?" He asked leaning against the wall.

"I'm not sure if you know but I'm Blaine's sister and I want to personally ask you to stay away from him." She told him, getting straight to the point.

Sebastian frowned at her, raising one eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"I know exactly what you're doing, Blaine is in love with Kurt. You aren't going to change that." She crossed her arms and for a moment hoped that he had taken in. That hope was immediately destroyed when he began to laugh.

"Now that's where you're wrong Alice Anderson. I get what I want, and what I want is Blaine. Soon enough he'll realise how to have fun and he'll come crawling to me on his hands and knees." He insisted.

"If he even so much as gets a slight thought about ever leaving Kurt I will do anything I can to get rid of that thought. Guys like you will only ever use him and hurt him." Alice began to walk away attempting to end the conversation.

"And you would know about using and hurting people, wouldn't you Alice." He shouted after her.

She turned abruptly and walked back towards him. "What did you just say?"

"You used and hurt one or two Warblers in you time, didn't you?" He smiled cruelly. "Jeff has a wonderful story about the Anderson sister who he fell for, did everything for, just to get a big slap in the face when he found her kissing not only another guy but a fellow Warbler."

A huge knot formed in her stomach. "That's different." She muttered, feeling weak.

"Oh really? Do explain?" Sebastian had a proud look on his face.

"I'm bipolar, we didn't know. I was having an episode and I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I've learned from my mistakes and frankly I think you should stop now before you do something you regret." Alice walked away now, choosing to ignore him if he even tried to call her back over. She found and empty booth and sat at it letting out a sigh.

That was an incident she hadn't thought of in a while. She did so many stupid things before she found out that it was all because of a mental illness, she didn't even remember why she did them which was just one of the many bad points about the whole situation. She looked around finding Jeff in the packed room, his bright blonde hair hard to miss even in a crowd of Warblers all dressed in the same blazer. She quickly looked away feeling even more sadness and regret.

However she was quickly distracted from her thoughts when a tall, blue eyed boy came over smiling down at her. "Hi, I'm Rory. You're Alice, right?"

"Yeah." She smiled back up at him glad of the company.

"Do you mind if I sit down?" He asked referring to the seat across from her.

"Go ahead." She told him, when he sad down she felt obliged to ask. "I love your accent, are you from Ireland?"

"Yes! How could you tell?" He grinned.

"I don't know... Maybe the hair?" She joked. "Yes, definitely they hair." The two of them laughed their eyes staying firmly in contact until the both realised they'd been gazing for a while and shyly looked down at the table.

"That was an amazing performance by the way!" He began to make conversation again. Rory couldn't help but watch her, to him her smile was worth everything he owned, every time he looked at her his stomach began to dance and her personality was proving to be everything he had hoped for.

"Thank you." She felt her cheeks burn slightly and hoped it wasn't obvious she was blushing. It suddenly came to her that she couldn't remember the last time her cheeks had tingled in that way or butterflies had flew around her stomach like they were at that moment. The two of them talked for ages and before they knew it the evening was over.

"How about, since you're new here I show you around Lima?" Alice suggested, hoping for a yes.

"Of course, that sounds great!" He answered despite the fact that Brittany's family, the people he was staying with during his time in Ohio, had taken him all over Lima in an attempt to help him get to know the place. Any excuse to spend time with Alice would be fine on his watch.

She smiled. "Why don't we swap numbers and I'll text you about tour stop 1!" They swapped cell phones both adding in their numbers.

"Perfect." Rory said. "I'll see you later then."

"See you later."

Alice turned and began to walk over to the table where Blaine and Kurt still sat, she stopped in her tracks when her phone started to vibrate in her pocket. She smirked answering it, "Hello?" She said.

"Hello, is this Alice Anderson?" Rory asked. She turned to see him at the other end of the room standing near the door facing her with a huge grin across his face.

"Yes, is there a reason why you called me today sir?" She played along.

"I just wanted to check that this gorgeous girl I met gave me the right number. I guess she has." He winked at her from across the room.

"Well why wouldn't she, you sound like a handsome guy."

"I'll see you soon, Alice."

"You too Rory." With that they hung up grinning over at each other one more time before turning to get back to what they were doing.

"When are you planning on telling your father?" Stacey asked Ryan. She was lying on the sofa in the living room of her apartment one hand on her large, round stomach.

"Soon, sweetie." He said coming round and kissing her on the forehead before taking a seat on the floor below her so that she could have the whole sofa to herself.

"Sorry I keep asking. I just don't want this baby born into a huge amount of confusion and even possibly conflict." She sighed looking down at him. Pregnancy at this moment in her life was not what she had planned, she was going to study to become a journalist, be successful in that and then possibly at the age of 30 get married and have her first child but there she lay 10 years to early on a second hand sofa in a tiny apartment. No huge house in the colourful suburbs or the 7 seated car and most importantly no ring on her finger.

"Have you found a job yet?" She questioned him as she had done many times before.

"No but I'm looking." The same answer came out of Ryan's lips each time. Ryan didn't turn to look at Stacey, he knew that he'd see the same face of complete disappointment that he saw every time she asked him that question and got the same answer. "Look Stacey, I am doing everything I can. I want to be able to support our son or daughter and you but it's so difficult to find a job with the state America is in right now. I promise you I will find something."

He forced himself to look at her but rather than disappointment he saw a smile. "Son." She said.

"What?" He asked in slight disbelief.

"We're going to have a son." She repeated but in better context. Ryan turned towards her now leaning on his knees.

"We are?" He wondered one more time just to make sure he hadn't heard her wrong. She nodded grinning. Ryan leaned in and kissed Stacey, putting his left hand on the hand she had placed on her stomach. He had never experienced quite a feeling like this before. It wasn't just because it was a boy, he would have been just as over the moon if it were a girl. It was the fact that knowing the gender almost made the fact he was going to have a child more real to him.

He pulled away from her, stroking her face in adoration. "I love you." He whispered softly.

"I love you too." She replied.

It was often that Richard and Tanya Anderson found themselves alone together in the house nowadays. No longer the happy family they once were, all the children went out and did their own thing, leaving mother to her housework and father to his alcohol. The truth was that Tanya just created more and more jobs to do just to escape from the everyday havoc around her and supposedly that's why Richard also drank. Though it was more or less the fact that he was running from his own personal issues.

These two had once been such an outgoing and happy couple. A typical love story in a modern day family, they met in high school, fell in love and got married at the age of 22, had their first child 2 years later and another 2 in the space of 5 years. Everyone admired them back then. 'Tanya and Richard were made for each other.', 'Richard and Tanya, they're perfect.' Now they barley talked if it wasn't an argument.

"Where's the wine?" Richard slurred finding Tanya in their bedroom dusting the bedside tables.

"You finished it." She told him. "Haven't you already had enough?"

"You can never have enough, Tanya." He laughed, almost falling over as he tried to lean on the door.

"I think you can." She snapped, almost regretting it right away. She hated arguments, especially with Richard whilst he was drunk but she found herself getting more and more inclined to say something back to his idiotic comments.

"What happened to you Tanya? You used to be fun." He mumbled lying on the bed.

"I grew up Richard." She answered him bluntly, trying to control her anger. Richard shook his head and laughed. Tanya carried on dusting and no one spoke a word for what seemed like almost half an hour.

"We should have another child." Richard sat up quickly, thinking his plan was genius. "Maybe it could make up for the two failures that we made."

That was it. Tanya gave up trying to control her anger, he had crossed so many lines and now she was at boiling point. "Blaine and Alice are not failures Richard. They are two perfect, generous and achieving young adults who deserve to be treated better than the way they are by you but of course you wouldn't know. Not once since you found out Blaine was gay and that Alice supported him have you showed up to a dance rehearsal, a show choir competition, a school production! They are amazing, Richard."

"They may be talented but that doesn't stop them from bringing shame to this family!" Richard fought back standing drunkenly from his upright position on the bed.

"The only person bringing shame to this family is you!" Tanya shouted. She felt a sense of release fill her body. Her husband glared at her before raging out of the room, she was left in a flood of tears in the middle of the bedroom floor waiting until she heard him slam the front door to fall to her knees and sob properly. 


	4. Chapter 4

Only forks and knives hitting plates could be heard in the dining room of the Anderson family as they all sat around the table. Tanya had finally gotten the bonding dinner she had wanted but yet again it wasn't exactly going to plan. No one was saying a word and the small talk about school and work had only made things that little bit more awkward.

The argument between Tanya and Richard had quickly been forgotten about, however they talked even less than before, almost not at all. However as a mother, Tanya felt she needed to try as hard as she could to keep the family together. Even if it did mean a few meals filled with small talk and silence. It meant everything if it got them back to the place they once were.

Alice's phone buzzed in her pocket catching the attention of everyone in the quiet room, she took it out smiling at the tiny notification on the screen. 'You have one new message from Rory.'

"Alice, put that thing away you've been texting on it all day." Tanya told her stressing out about how badly the dinner was already going without half of the family taking their phones out.

"But mom, it's Rory!" Blaine teased, pretending to mimic Alice's voice. She hit him quickly on the arm, glaring up at him.

"Who's Rory?" Tanya asked curiously, also glad of the conversation.

"Mom, I'll put my cell away." She begged not wanting to have to talk about it in front of everyone whilst eating dinner.

"Rory is a foreign exchange student from Ireland. He's in New Directions with me, lovely kid. Has a huge crush on Alice." Blaine continued to tease her.

"He better be a lovely kid or I'll beat him up." Ryan joked though part of him was serious in a sense that if a guy were to ever hurt his sister he would also hurt them.

"Is he cute?" Tanya asked her, joining in with the teasing.

"Oh gosh." Alice mumbled putting her head in her hands out of embarrassment.

"I'm not sure I want you dating, Alice." Richard suddenly spoke. The whole table fell silent once more except this time not even the sound of forks hitting plates was heard.

"Oh don't be silly, Richard." Tanya laughed, shooting him an annoyed look. "Of course she can date."

"But I just said I don't want her to." Richard continued to protest ignoring the annoyed look on his wives face.

"Dad, Blaine and Ryan are both in relationships and have been since they were pretty much my age." Alice said.

"I don't care, I don't think you're ready for a relationship yet." He said the words almost casually, starting to put more leftover food onto his plate.

"And what exactly is that meant to mean?" She questioned, pushing herself up from her seat.

"You aren't stable."

Everyone looked at him in shock. Waiting for Alice to storm out of the room, Blaine prepared himself to go after her but she stood her ground. "I don't know how many times this year you're going to pick at me for this but my biploar disorder won't go away anytime soon, dad, and I'll have you know it is very under control. There's also no where on the tub that states that I'm not allowed to date, therefore I will date. I thank you though, for adding to this wonderful family conversation father." With that she sat back down and continued to eat her meal.

The rest of the family watched in awe as Richard stood up and left the dining room in silence. It was no surprise to them that he went towards the kitchen. They listened to him as he opened a cupboard, popped a cork, took a large gulp and placed whatever beverage of alcohol he had chosen for himself tonight back on the table.

"Are things going any better at home?" Kurt questioned Blaine sitting across from him at their usual hang out, Lima Bean. He sipped his drink watching his boyfriend as he sighed and looked down at his own cup of coffee.

"Not really." Blaine answered, his head literally throbbing at the thought of how things were going at home. "My dads being more idiotic than ever and not just towards me, to Alice. I hate that more than anything."

Kurt shook his head. "I wish there was something I could do."

"It's not your problem. Honestly you are doing enough by just being there for me." Blaine told him, giving him a hopeful smile. Kurt smiled back at him and began to think. He knew that there must be something that he could do to help. All his life he had been so lucky to have a supportive family and he couldn't imagine what Blaine must have been going through. From the times he had met Alice he knew how lovely she was and he only assumed that Ryan and Tanya would be exactly the same. Richard was a different story, he was the only problem that that family really had. It had nothing to do with Blaine being gay, however Blaine did blame himself. Kurt hated that.

"I think I have an idea." Kurt finally came out with. Blaine looked up at him intrigued and leaned in to listen to him speak about his idea. 

"Tell me something about yourself?" Alice smiled looking through the lens of the camera she had brought with her to Lima Park. Every now and then she came here with friends and her Art assignment was a perfect excuse to show Rory around the peaceful park. 

Rory grinned, looking around as they walked down the quiet path through the park. "I love spending time in parks with beautiful girls, but I would love it more if the beautiful girl put her camera down."

She turned towards him, quickly snapping a picture before shoving the camera in her bag. "Last one." She giggled. "So you spend time in parks with girls often then?"

He looked down at his feet realising what he said might have sounded a lot smarter in his head. "No, I just really wanted you to put that camera away." He laughed looking back up at her, his hands in his pockets protecting them from the Autumn cold.

"Don't even pretend you're camera shy." She winked, wrapping her arms around his right arm. "So do you like the park?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, it's gorgeous." He said, forgetting the fact that he had already been here around 5 times so that the Glee guys could teach him how to play American football. Although he told the truth when he said that it was gorgeous, Alice brought a much nicer aura to the park that he would never feel if he came with anyone else. He adored the way she tried to identify the kinds of flowers that were just beginning to die out in the cold weather, asking questions about Ireland and how he was enjoying his time in America. 

Alice slid away from his arms. "This is my favourite part of the park." She giggled excitedly jogging lightly towards a bridge that crossed the small river they had been following as they walked further into the park. She smiled leaning against the old, rusty metal bars waiting for Rory to come and stand by her side.

"Why this bit?" He wondered not able to see anything special about the small bridge.

"I'm not entirely sure, it just has a great feeling about it." She answered. "You know it's exactly in the middle of the park." She smiled down at Rory as he bent over resting his arms on the bar and leaning on them.

"You mean we walked all that way and we're only in the middle." Rory joked, pretending to sigh tiredly.

Alice rolled her eyes laughing. "Have some enthusiasm, Ireland, you'll never get anywhere if you can't appreciate the smaller things in life."

"I do apologise. You've been a wonderful tour guide so far, Alice." He told her coming up so he could face her. His stomach knotted as he caught her eyes straight away.

"Is that why you've been letting me take you places you've already been to?" She smirked at the look on his face. As if he'd been caught robbing a bank.

"How did you-"

"It wasn't obvious at all when you pretty much lead the way to the park and knew exactly what to order the other day at the pizza place." She giggled, looking down at her feet then back up again. The two of them were standing quite close now.

Rory put his hands up guiltily. "You caught me." He couldn't help but laugh. Very smooth Rory, he thought to himself. He was glad that it didn't seem to annoy her that he had let her drag him around places he already knew quite well.

"You are absolutely ridiculous." She shook her head still laughing. She then leaned in, placing one hand on his neck and kissed him. Shocked, Rory kissed her back feeling a buzz run through his body. He could feel her smiling, which made him smile too.

"I love America." He whispered, once they had stopped, their foreheads still touching.

"Where have you been?" Ryan asked as Alice came striding in the door later that day with a huge smile on her face.

"At the park, getting pictures for my art assignment." She smiled knowing that if she caught his eye she would start laughing uncontrollably. She took of her coat and hung it up on the peg which was placed on the wall of the lobby.

"It's funny you seem awfully smiley for just being out taking pictures. What's up?" Ryan continued to question her feeling suspicious. When he got no answer he decided to call Blaine through, who came rushing into the hallway. "Our little sister is acting funny." He told him.

"I'm not acting funny, I was out getting picture," She paused, her brothers both staring at her. "For my art assignment. You guys are so creepy sometimes."

"Were you out with Rory?" Blaine asked, hitting the nail right on the head.

Alice laughed nervously. "No. Now let me through." She tried to squeeze past them so that she could run up the stairs and avoid telling her two older brothers about her little trip with Rory.

"In girl world that means, yes." Blaine nodded matter-of-factly at Ryan. The two of them continued to block her way.

"You liar!" Ryan teased. "So what happened with Rory then? Give us all the gossip!"

"Nothing, nothing happened. We just hung out and I took pictures for my art assignment." She lied again.

"I don't believe that for a second!" Blaine shook his head. "Ryan, lets just leave her, I'll ask Rory himself on Monday"

They moved out of the way to let her by, she swiftly moved in between them to make sure they wouldn't grab her and press her for more answers. As they let her by, she got to the middle of the stairs and shouted. "Don't even bother asking Rory if anything happened today." She let out an embarrassed giggle before entering her room and quickly shutting the door.

"That means they kissed." Blaine laughed before they brothers made their way to the living room to watch TV.

During this time Richard and Tanya were at a meeting. To be more exact a couples counselling meeting with a trained therapist. Tanya had briefly persuaded Richard to come along with her after going out and organising it herself. She decided that in order to fix the relationship of the whole family she had to sort out hers and Richard's first.  
>That morning Richard had already broken one promise he had made to Tanya about the meeting, he had promised her that he wouldn't drink. Though she had no idea that this was to just keep her quiet. He had slipped another small tester bottle of whisky into his mug of coffee that morning and had also slyly taken a few swigs out of a wine bottle he'd hidden, along with other curious amounts of alcohol, in the office he had at home.<p>

"Thanks for coming along today." The therapist said beginning the hour long session she had with the strained couple. "I'm going to start by asking why you have come here today?" She saw couples all day long for all sorts of different problems, she looked Richard up and down and thought about how she hadn't had a drunk husband in quite some time.

"I have no idea." Richard laughed smugly, looking over at Tanya who was sitting right at the edge of the brown leather sofa they were both sitting on.

"We are here because we have a lot of problems that need sorted out." Tanya said firmly, answering the smartly dressed and serious woman's question.

"I see and would you care to explain these problems as well as you can for me?" She asked bringing out a notebook and a pen ready to jot them down. Richard huffed, he didn't feel the need to be here. The only reason he had came was to shut his moaning wife up.

"Well, Richard and I have been growing apart for quite some time now." Tanya spoke. He rolled his eyes. "I also think that he has a few problems that he can't let go of."

"I have problems, that I can't let go of?" Richard shouted, stunned by even the suggestion of it. "How dare you?"

"Now Richard, please calm down." The therapist said calmly so that she wouldn't aggravate him any more than he already was. "I understand that you have a drinking problem-"

"A drinking problem? What did she tell you that?" Richard pointed cruelly towards Tanya, making her jump.

"No she did not tell me. I can tell by the fact that it is just past 3 in the afternoon and your speech is already slurred. There is no bar in my waiting room so I'm assuming that you've been drinking since a lot earlier than the time your appointment was booked for." She told him. "Please listen when I say that I can get you help for this and I promise that life will get better-"

"This is stupid. I have never been somewhere that has been such a waste of my time." He interrupted her, storming out of the room. The therapist quickly jotted down some notes before taking a box of tissues over to the sofa where Tanya was now sitting with her face in her hands, ashamed and upset. She sat next to her and handed her the box of tissues before putting her arm around her.

"I understand how difficult this must be for you Tanya but I want you to continue trying to convince your husband to get help for his problems. From the short amount I have seen today I know that none of this is your fault and this is probably only the start in a long list of problems that the two of you share. I'm going to give you my number. Feel free to call me anytime you need to speak to someone."

"Thank you." Tanya mumbled wiping tears from her eyes. 


	5. Chapter 5

"Thank you so much for coming over. You don't know how much we appreciate it." Tanya said nervously. Ryan sat next to her, gripping her hand as they waited, Alice at the other side of him seemed to be in a distant dream.

"It's really no problem at all." Burt Hummel, Kurt's father answered sitting on the sofa opposite her with his son at his side.

Kurt looked at Blaine, who took a large breath in and out. "Don't worry." Kurt whispered squeezing his shoulder. Blaine gave him a small smile. He was feeling an overwhelming mixture of feelings, worried, hopeful, happy to have the one he loved by his side but nervous. All at the same time as being strangely excited.

Everyone jumped as they heard the front door open. Alice came out of her dream looking nervously around the room. "Richard." Tanya called him through to the living room still gripping tightly onto Ryan's hand.

Richard came into the room, confused as to why everyone was sitting there staring over at him. Two new faces sitting on one sofa with Blaine. "What is this an intervention?" He laughed though he felt quite tense.

"I guess you could call it that." Burt said, standing up to introduce himself. "I'm Burt Hummel, Kurt's dad." Richard shook his hand frowning, wondering why this man was in his home.

"Kurt's my boyfriend." Blaine spoke, knowing that Richard would have never remembered his name from the few times he had brought him up in front of him.

"Oh." Was all Richard could say.

"I suppose you're wondering why I'm here." Burt went on. "Your family have been telling me that you've found it hard to come to terms with Blaine being gay. I just wanted you to know that I am happy to help you and will give you any advice you need on coming to terms with having a gay son."

The room fell silent for a short while as Richard came to grips with what Burt had just said to him. "I don't need to accept it." He answered bluntly. Burt looked at him confused. Ashamed Blaine turned away, unable to look at anyone, Kurt squeezed his hand. He hadn't realised just how bad it was before. He thought his plan would work easily but by the look on Richard's face he knew it might take a lot of work to change his mind.

"Being gay is wrong. It's disgusting, I shouldn't have to accept this stupid phase he's chosen to go through. Frankly I'm ashamed. Now don't tell me you are able to look your son in the eyes and tell him you're proud of him when he's out chasing after other men all day." Richard now began to shout ignoring his shaking son in the corner who was now turned at the wall so no one could see the tears falling from his eyes. Kurt now had his arms wrapped around his back, doing anything he could to comfort him. He cried too.

"How dare you." Alice stood up walking towards him. "Look at me." She shouted. Her father turned rolling his eyes. Burt took his seat again letting the family sort things out themselves.

"First of all, father, being gay is not a phase. A phase is when one minute you like heavy metal and the next you like pop, it doesn't last as much as a month. Blaine likes boys and whether you like it or not you are going to have to accept that. I am sick and tired of the way you are treating the people in this family. Can't you see what you're doing? You stupid man. You are more of a coward than any body sitting in this room and you know why? Because you run from your problems, you drink your way out of everything and that to me is wrong and disgusting. Frankly, I am ashamed of you." With that she stormed out of the room.

"Stupid girl." He muttered under his breath.

Ryan stood up to take his turn. "Don't you turn on me son, you're the only person I have left to be proud of." Richard said as he saw him walking towards him.

"I hate you." Ryan shook his head. "Before you even begin to go on about how I'm your only hope, hear me out. I dropped out of University, dad."

"What?" 

"Yeah, around 2 months ago. Stacey's pregnant, the babies due in February. Proud of me now?" Ryan followed Alice's lead out of the room leaving Richard standing in utter shock.

"Let's go wait outside." Burt whispered to Kurt. "It's not our place to be here." The two of them left the room, Kurt quickly making sure Blaine was ok. He had turned around again, his eyes still red from the tears, so that he could witness his family finally standing up for themselves.

Richard walked over to Tanya, a faint smell of alcohol on his breath. "You'll stay with me, right honey. You would never disappoint me." He pleaded trying to take her hands.

She pulled them away and stood up to leave the room but not before quickly adding a comment on herself. "I want a divorce." She slammed the door behind her leaving Blaine alone with him.

"What are you going to say then?" Richard shouted at Blaine, now extremely angry. "I bet it was you that planned this all out, made them all say the things they did. Do you know how selfish you are, boy? Do you?"

"I never asked them to do anything." He mumbled. "You've been asking for it for years."

"Shut up you horrible child."

"I'm not a child anymore. I can make my own decisions and they're all old enough to make theirs." Blaine was no longer sitting, he stood strong trying to fight back tears. He wasn't going to take any more abuse from his father. For years he had dealt with it, sometimes non-stop. It was about time that he accepted him for who he was. "All I ever wanted was for you to be proud of me. You know I even tried to convince myself I was bisexual so that you would even slightly accept me for once. I just wanted you to be there for me but instead you put me down all the time. You started drinking, which only made matter worse. I blamed myself for this mess but now I realise, it was you all along, you made this family what it is today."

"Shut up!" He shouted again, this time taking an old family picture from the stand above the fireplace and throwing it towards the wall behind Blaine. It smashed loudly, the broken pieces scattering the ground.

He didn't jump. "You need to grow up and realise that life can't always be perfect but you just have to accept it the way it is."

Outside the living room Ryan sat next to Alice on the bottom step of the stairs, his arms wrapped around her as she cried. Their mother kneeled in front of them trying to comfort Alice as much as possible whilst trying to keep control over her own feels. Meanwhile beside them stood, Kurt and Burt Hummel, Burt with his arm around his sons back. They stayed just to be there for the family and to try and help if anything got to out of control.

"I promise to get us out of this mess." Tanya whispered, squeezing her daughters knee. Just then everyone heard a dreadful smashing sound come from the living room. Everyone stood up quickly unable to hear the thud that shortly came afterwards. The family burst into the living room, the Hummel's shortly after them.

"Blaine!" Alice cried running over to him. He lay on the floor holding his face.

"What the hell have you done!" Tanya screeched glaring over at her husband in shock, who was standing breathing heavily. "Get out of this house, now!" He quickly left without saying a word, pushing past Burt. Ryan helped Blaine sit up, Kurt and Alice at either side of him whilst Burt tried to comfort a hysterical Tanya.

"I'll go get ice." Ryan said trying to keep calm so that he didn't fall into a fit of rage and run out after his father. He had never in his days knew of his father raising his hand to anyone and he found it horrendous that Blaine had to be the first one. Turning he saw everyone entering the kitchen, Alice and Kurt attached to Blaine making sure he wasn't dizzy. They sat him on a stool beside the breakfast bar, Ryan handing Alice the cloth filled with ice to put to his head. Blaine winced at the feeling.

"Are you ok? Do you need anything?" Tanya asked him, extremely worried. "Want me to call a doctor?"

"Mom, I'm fine. It's just a hit in the head, I've had worse." He answered trying to calm everyone down though the left side of his face was throbbing in pain. The punch his father had thrown him had brought him back to middle school. He remembered being beaten up and verbally abused, the horrible rush of it all. The days he wanted to forget but found it hard not to think about when he lay in bed at night.

Alice put on a brave face too, so that she wouldn't worry Blaine. "How about some paracetamol? For the pain?" She suggested, Tanya didn't wait for Blaine to answer. She went into the cupboard found a box quickly, pouring some water from the tap and handing both to him.

"Are you guys going to be ok tonight? There's room at our place if you don't feel comfortable staying here?" Burt questioned them. The last thing he wanted was for the family to suffer from anything else. Especially after what had just happened to Blaine.

"No, thank you." Tanya said politely. "I'll call someone to change the locks straight away and if he tries to come back I'll contact the police. He's not getting back into my home and hurting my children again." Burt nodded in agreement.

That night after the Hummel's had left, the locksmith had been and the linger of a horrible day had ever so slightly shifted the remainder of the Anderson's found themselves all clambered into Tanya's bed. Wide awake they all sat in silence just enjoying one another's company. They all thought about the things that they could have said and done differently earlier today. However, none of them regretted it as a huge sense of release filled them all. A man who had made the family fall to pieces was already halfway out of their lives.


	6. Chapter 6

A month later things were looking up for Tanya, Ryan, Blaine and Alice. Tanya was a majority of the way through her divorce to Richard and it seemed that it would be going her way, especially since Richard had either turned up drunk to their meetings or not at all. His stupid mistake, Tanya always thought to herself. Ryan had now moved in with Stacey and thanks to Burt Hummel now had a job at the tyre shop. Blaine and Alice no longer had to dread the minute their father walked into a room and were generally happy with life.

"Uhm... Hi." Alice said looking around the room she had been in not to long ago. However this time she brought no one with her and it was a totally different situation. McKinely High School choir room felt almost intimidating without a huge group of girls behind her.

"Oh hello Alice." Rachel smiled. " What brings you here? Have you came to wish us luck for Regionals?" She asked.

"No actually." She smiled back at her wandering further into the choir room. "I'm actually here to ask you if I could join you."

Rachel looked at her confused. "You've transferred?"

"Yeah, I had to. Since my parents are getting divorced and we're living with my mom we don't exactly have the money for private school anymore. I'm happy to be here though." She told them, deciding to be completely honest. She was aware of the glares she was getting from Rachel but chose to favour the more excited looks she was getting from Blaine, Kurt and Rory who all knew of her arrival at McKinely that morning.

"Well then, we're very happy to have you." Mr Shuester said. "Take a seat, Alice."

Rory clapped and wooed, making her blush. "Thank you, Mr Shuester." She said putting her head down before walking over and pulling up a chair next to Rory. Hitting him lightly, as a way of telling him to stop it. He laughed, leaning over and kissing her on the cheek.

"Welcome to New Directions," Said the girl sitting in front of them. "I'm Tina, this is Mike." She smiled hinting towards the guy next to her.

"Thank you, it's nice to meet you." She answered feeling glad that she had been accepted so quickly into the group. They knew about her talents and she hoped that she might come in handy to them for Regionals next month, however she couldn't help wondering about the annoyed looks she had been getting from Rachel as soon as she'd announced her reasons for being there.

Ryan looked over at Stacey, smiling as he watched her pour herself a glass of orange juice. She was now 5 months pregnant and glowing. "What?" She asked noticing him looking over at her.

"I was just thinking about how beautiful you look." He told her.

She pushed a small bit of light blonde hair behind her ear, rolling her eyes. "Yeah right, look at me!" She laughed gesturing towards her stomach.

"You look gorgeous, Stacey." He walked over to her kissing her stomach before kissing her quickly on the lips. Things were much better now that Ryan had a job and his father was out of his life. His girlfriend wasn't so tense all the time and he felt better now that she had to worry less and so did he. The reason he hadn't moved out of the family home in the first place was so that he could be with his younger siblings for as long as possible.

His eyes followed Stacey as she walked over to the sofa and turned on the tv. Smiling he patted his pocket, where a small box was sitting ready and waiting to be opened. Inside that box was a silver ring, which he hoped Stacey would accept.

Rory and Alice walked through the corridor hand in hand. It was Alice's 2nd week there and Rory loved having her around. Any time he got to spend with her was magical and every second meant the world to him. He could feel himself falling so fast for her and he knew that it would be difficult to get himself out. Of course, Alice felt the same towards him. She found it difficult to not smile every time he walked into the room and found his dorky ways irresistibly cute.

"How about we go out for dinner tomorrow night?" He asked as he walked her to her next class, which unknown to Alice was at the opposite side of the school.

"Sure, Breadstix I'm guessing?" She answered, smiling up at him.

"Where else?" He laughed as they neared the end of their walk. "I'll talk to you about times and stuff in the cafeteria." He told her, quickly stealing a kiss on the lips.

"What have you got next?" She questioned him quickly before going into her class.

"Biology."

"Wait isn't that at the other side of the school?"

Rory winked, grinning over at her already rushing away. He was going to be late but it was worth it.

Kurt sat on the chair of Blaine's desk swinging his legs happily whilst flipping through the latest edition of Vogue magazine whilst Blaine sat on his bed trying to make sense of his Math homework. "You doing ok?" Kurt smiled over at him, looking up from a page on this seasons looks.

"Yeah, I think so." He answered. "It's funny though I'm sure you said you were coming over to help me."

"Oh come on Blaine, you and I both know I suck at Math. I'm just here for pep talk and casual distractions." He told him with a smirk. Blaine's phone buzzed on the bedside table, beeping to tell him he had a text, he picked it up frowning, shook his head then put it back down again without replying to it.

"Who was that?" Kurt asked curious as to why he didn't answer.

Blaine looked down guiltily, though he really had nothing to be guilty for. "It was Sebastian." He answered.

"Sebastian?" He now felt worried. "Can I see those texts?" He stood up walking over to Blaine who unlocked his phone and handed it to him. From the minute Kurt met Sebastian he knew he was trouble. The full on way he acted with Blaine annoyed him. Blaine watched as one of his boyfriends eyebrows rose as he read the texts.

"I haven't replied to any of them, believe me." Blaine told him. To Blaine, Sebastian was an alright guy. He just never seemed to take no for an answer and his full on personality almost intimidated him.

"I trust you." Kurt said, he handed the phone back to Blaine and went back to the seat he was in before. "I just don't trust Sebastian."

The halls of Dalton Academy were quiet, only a faint sound of people talking could be heard. Alice walked into the room where the Warblers were all gathered around talking. She smiled knocking politely.

"Alice! How are you?" Nick, who was now the lead singer of the Warblers, greeted her. He came over giving her a quick hug.

"I'm great thanks!" She answered. The rest of the Warblers followed after him.

"Came to spy on us?" Nick asked jokingly.

"Nope, I actually came to speak to Sebastian." She told them looking around for him, whilst she was looking she noticed that Jeff was the only Warbler still sitting, their eyes met for a quick second before he looked away pretending to be watching something outside the window.

"I'm here." Sebastian walked out of the group casually with his usual cocky smirk lined across his face.

"Good." She said before leading him out of the room and into the hallway so that they could talk alone. The Warblers got back to what they were doing before she had came in.

"Desperate to see me?" He laughed smugly.

Alice glared at him, shaking her head. "You are so full of yourself."

"I prefer the word confident but go on." He told her.

She ignored him deciding to just quickly get the conversation over with. "A little birdy told me that you've been sending some pretty full on texts to my brother." Alice started.

"And what little birdy told you that? His boyfriend." He scoffed. "He needs to calm down."

"Calm down? Does the word boyfriend not mean anything to you?"

"Not really, normally it's just gives me more of a challenge." Sebastian answered her.

Alice rolled her eyes. "My brother isn't a game. He's gone through a lot in his life and I don't want you ruining the best thing that's ever happened to him."

"Oh believe me, I won't ruin his life."

"No, you won't because he won't leave Kurt for you. Now if you excuse me, I have to leave. Tell the rest of the Warblers I said goodbye and good luck for Regionals." With that Alice walked away. Sebastian watched her as she walked up the corridor, going back into the room once she had turned the corner and was out of sight.


	7. Chapter 7

Breadstix was packed with people as usual. It was one of the most popular restaurants in Lima, Ohio and today in one booth sat Rory and Alice. "So are you excited for Regionals next week?" Alice smiled cutting up a bit of food on her plate.

"Yeah, it should be great. Can't wait to see what the other groups have come up with!" He told her almost finished with his own food.

"Well from past experience I know that the Triple Threats are going to be fierce this year!" She said suddenly feeling ever so slightly sad.

"You miss them, don't you?" He questioned her, seeing the way her face slowly sank after she had realised what she said.

"Yeah, of course I do but I'm happy to be at McKinley. Blaine's there and I get to spend even more time with you." She looked up at him catching him grinning.

Rory then sighed nervously. "Alice, I know this probably sounds ridiculous and we've only known each other for 2 months but I really, really, think I'm falling for you. Would it be stupid of me to say that I love you?" He rushed his words, trying to get them out quickly before regretting anything.

Alice giggled. "That's not stupid at all because I just so happen to be really, really, falling for you. I love you too, Rory." 

McKinley High School's New Directions took their seats. They were going last again this year, which was seen as a good thing. "Fresh in the judges minds." Rachel had repeated to them as they gathered round in the outside hall.

"I'm really excited to see the Warblers this year." Kurt whispered to Blaine who was sitting next to him in the middle of the group. "I'm interested to see how much they've changed."

Blaine nodded. "All I can tell you is that they're definitely good but I haven't been let in on any secrets, so I honestly have no idea what they've come up with!"

"Lets just wait and see!" Kurt said excitedly. These competitions had become so normal to him. He remembered the first Sectionals they had done, the nerves mixed with excitement with a little bid of worry on the side that something would go terribly wrong. Now however it seemed so easy, he still got the knot in his chest but he knew the hours of practice they had put into their performance were bound to pay off even if they didn't win.

The curtains opened and the Triple Threats stood confidently, ready to start with their backs to the audience. Rory squeezed Alice's hand sitting with her at the end of the row. She smiled at him, turning back when the music began to play. It was true what she had said, the Triple Threats were fierce, living up to their name even without Alice on lead vocals. They received a standing ovation from most of the audience, their ex-lead singer included. The Warblers also gave a show stopping performance which the judges were bound to remember despite the highly set bar at the start and the fact that they had performed second. There was a 10 minute break before New Directions were due to start. Once again they gathered outside, Mr. Shuester motivating them with Miss. Pillsbury at his side. 

"I'm just going to quickly go to the bathroom." Alice told Rory. She felt nervous and needed to take a minute by herself. She followed the signs towards the toilets which took her down a small hall, finding them she quickly went inside and stood over the sink. She took a deep breath, checking her hair and make-up then patting down the dress that she and the other girls were all wearing. After one more deep breath she finally felt ready to leave again, getting a fright when she saw Sebastian leaning against the wall outside.

"What the hell are you doing?" She muttered, her heart still beating fast from the shock he had given her.

"I was waiting for you." He told her. She looked at him confused.

"Why?" She asked.

"Is it only you that's allowed to organise our little talks, Alice?" He laughed looking down at his feet before looking back up at her.

"I have to go in a minute, so please talk fast."

He smirked at her. "Well, you see, I've gotten a little bored of chasing after your brother all the time."

"Finally."

"However," He continued, "as I've told you before I like to have fun and guys aren't really satisfying me as much as they used to. Going for both sounds like a much better option." He looked smugly down at her, raising his eyebrows and smiling.

"And you're telling me this why?" Alice wondering, feeling more confused than when he'd started.

"Because I know that you like a bit of fun too." He told her. Alice shook her head starting to back away.

"That was a long time ago. I also have a boyfriend." Alice tried to tell him firmly.

"We've spoken enough by now for you to know that that really doesn't matter to me." He walked towards her, pulling her close. "I know you want this just as much as I do." He then kissed her, put was pushed away just as fast.

"Stay away from me and my family." Alice muttered before quickly before running down the hall back towards where New Directions were standing. Sebastian watched her, smirking, after all it was all just a game to him.

"Are you ok?" Rory smiled as Alice came back into the group.

"Yeah." She answered. "Just a bit nervous." She found it hard to look him in they eyes.

He smiled taking her hand and squeezing it tight. "It'll go great, don't worry."

"You know I love you, right?" She said putting her head on his shoulder, feeling guilty. She wondered how and if she would tell him.

"Yes, and I love you too." He answered before the whole group made their way backstage in excitement. They took their places on stage starting with a group number, nervously they all gave each other looks of encouragement. When the music started to play they counted the beats and turned round. The performance had started. 

The curtains closed and they all stood still breathing heavily until every clapping audience member was out of site. Everyone burst into fits of laughter, clapping, high-fiving and hugging one another. "That went so great!" Kurt exclaimed, hugging Blaine.

"Your solo was perfect." Blaine told him, hugging him back.

"Oh that little line." Kurt laughed. "That was nothing."

By the time New Directions got to the small room where the show choirs had to wait before performing, The Triple Threats and The Warblers were already sitting, chatting to one another. Going over their performances or speaking of how nervous they were about the results. They clapped as New Directions entered.

"Thank you, thank you." Rachel giggled curtsying at them. Everyone laughed along with her.

Alice ran over to the Triple Threats and they all began to squeal excitedly. "You guys were amazing!" She told them putting one hand to her heart.

"You guys were great too!" One girl with bright blonde hair said standing up to give her a hug.

"We miss you!" Said another.

"I miss you guys too!"

Blaine shook his head laughing over at them. "Girls, huh?" He said to Rory, who also laughed, looking down at his feet.

"Tough competition today!" Sebastian said, coming over to them. "May the best group win." He winked at Blaine who smiled politely knowing Kurt would be behind him.

"I don't believe we've met yet." Sebastian continued, now speaking to Rory. "I'm Sebastian" he said putting out his hand to shake it.

"Rory." He answered, shaking his hand.

Fearing the worst, Alice quickly went over to them. Taking Rory's hand. "Rory, come meet the girls." She smiled at him. Her heart was beating fast hoping that Sebastian hadn't said anything stupid.

Relief filled her as he happily said, "Sure." Following her over to the huge group of girls who squealed and cooed at him. Sebastian smirked, turning his attention back to Blaine. 

"Your sister likes to protect the people she loves." He laughed.

"She is very caring." Blaine said, slightly confused by his comment. He grinned, nodding.

"It's a shame that she often also hurts them." He added, quickly glancing at Jeff who he realised was not so slyly watching Alice as she held onto her boyfriends arm, throwing out compliments about him to the small audience of girls that were crowding around them. Again Sebastian smirked, seeing the complete confusion on Blaine's face, and walked over to speak with some of his fellow Warblers.

"What was he talking about?" Kurt questioned Blaine coming over and leaning with his hands on his shoulders.

"Alice." Blaine told him.

"Really? Well that makes a change." Kurt laughed not realising the astonished glare on his boyfriends face.

All of a sudden an announcement came through the speakers that were placed at each corner of the room. "Would all three show choir groups like to take their positions on stage as we are about to announce the results of today's competition." Everyone jumped up excitedly, all squeezing through the door. Slowly but surely everyone gathered up on stage staring out at the audience where family, friends, classmates and show choir fans all sat awaiting the announcement of the winner.

"This is it." Blaine looked at Kurt who grinned and took his hand. They all stood looking down at their feet as the presenter, a tall, older woman wearing a smart dress, came with the envelope holding the winners name on it.

"And the winner of today's Regionals competition, who will be going to Nationals in Los Angeles in a few months time are…" There was a pause as she slowly opened the envelope, leaving everyone feeling incredibly tense. "McKinley High's New Directions!" She shouted into the microphone as the members of New Directions jumped for joy, screaming. A butch man in a suit came out and handed the medium sized trophy to them as the other groups clapped politely.

Kurt jumped into Blaine's arms, who laughed hugging him. "We're going to L.A." He chuckled wanting desperately to kiss him right there and then in front of the whole audience but stopped himself not wanting to cause an uproar. Rory quickly kissed Alice, also hugging her. She had almost forgotten the drama that had happened that day with the excitement of it all, holding her boyfriend tightly in her arms. She never wanted to let go.


	8. Chapter 8

A week after their win at Regionals the New Directions sat in the choir room listening to yet another one of Mr. Shuester's pep talks about their trip to L.A. for Nationals. "Let's not make the same mistakes as last year." He said, casually hinting towards Finn and Rachel who smiled over at one another guiltily. "We have to work harder than ever so that we can secure a spot and win it this year!." He finished off the prep talk. The group nodded in agreement.

"No kissing on stage this year." Finn agreed, laughing a little.

Mr. Shuester smiled and went on. "Now this week I feel as if we should do a little assignment. It's been a long time since we've done a duets competition and this year I've decided that we will be picking our partner with the help of this." He took out a bowl filled with sheets of paper, everyone groaned quietly at the fact they weren't getting to choose.

"Me first!" Rachel put up her hand desperately. "Please." she added.

"Go on then."

Rachel skipped happily over to the bowl, rummaging in it before picking out a name. She sighed. "Can I change it?" She wondered not bothering to lower her voice. He shook his head and she rolled her eyes. "Alice." She muttered.

Alice looked up at her offended. "What have I done wrong?" She asked her.

"Nothing." Rachel spoke quickly. "I just don't think our voices will go greatly together." Alice let it go, though she still wasn't convinced that Rachel was telling the truth. She thought for a while as everyone else went down announcing who they had chosen. Honestly, she could not think of a point where she might have done something hurtful towards the girl. In fact if either one of them should be annoyed it should be Alice, Rachel did go after her gay brother and put him in a position of self confliction.

"Since you opted first Rachel, you and Alice can perform first. You have 2 days to come up with a duet." Mr. Shuester told them, writing it down quickly so that he wouldn't forget. Then the bell rang telling them to go to class, everyone rushed out.

"I'll meet you here, after school." Rachel bluntly told Alice, who nodded in agreement before following everyone out of the choir room.

Tanya smiled warmly, opening the door for her eldest son and his girlfriend. "Come in!" She told them. "Have a seat in the living room! Can I get you anything?"

"Just a glass of water will be fine, please Tanya." Stacey answered walking through to the living room with Ryan by her side.

"Nothing for me, thanks, mom." Ryan said. The two of them sat next to each other on one of the leather sofas.

"I'm so nervous." Stacey whispered so that Tanya wouldn't hear.

"Don't be, she'll be happy for us. I promise." He quickly kissed her on the forehead as his mother came through with a mug of tea for herself and the glass of water Stacey had asked for.

"Thank you." Stacey said, taking the glass of water and having a sip.

"How are the two of you? Everything fine with the Baby?" She asked, taking the seat opposite of them.

"Everything's great!" Ryan exclaimed looking at his girlfriend with a smile.

"I can't believe it's gone by so fast!" Stacey spoke. "The babies due in 3 months."

"Yes, it's all very exciting. Just don't get too nervous!" Tanya giggled. She was still trying to grasp onto the fact that at the age of 43 she was going to be a grandma, however she was very positive about it all, happy that they had chosen to keep it.

"Mom, we came to see you because we've got some news!" Ryan told her, grinning nervously as Stacey nodded by his side and took his hand. "We're engaged." He announced.

Tanya looked at them, this was the last thing she had expected them to say. "Engaged?"

"Yes, and we're planning on having the wedding next month." Ryan continued.

"Next month?" She questioned, still in shock.

"Before the baby comes." Stacey said now feeling more worried than ever. She began to wonder if the whole thing was a good idea, Ryan's mother had already been through a lot in the past couple of months. Especially with her divorce finally nearing it's last week of completion. "It's just going to be small, close family only."

"And this is what you really want?" Tanya wondered. The two of them nodded, Stacey biting her lip. "Then I am more than happy for you!" She went over to them, placing her mug on the table, hugging them both.

"I actually wanted to ask you as well, Tanya." Stacey started to speak. "I was wondering if you would like to help me plan the wedding? I don't want to have to do it alone and Ryan is ridiculously bad at planning anything!" She laughed. Ryan and Stacey had agreed that it would be a great idea to get her to help, she had always been great at planning parties for anniversaries or birthdays, it would also be a good distraction from everything that had went on and they needed any help they could get with Stacey being pregnant.

Tanya laughed, knowing the statement about Ryan was extremely true. "Of course I will!" She smiled, giving Stacey another hug. 

"Right," Rachel began standing at the opposite side of the piano from Alice in the choir room. "I've had a think and I've come up with the perfect song for us to sing." She pushed the sheet music over to Alice who picked it up and looked at the title. "I'm not sure if you'll know it."

"What is This Feeling, from Wicked? Of course I know it." Alice told her. "Isn't it about the two girls hating one another when they first meet?"

"Yes." Rachel answered her bluntly. Alice shook her head confused, deciding to go along with it as there was probably no way to deny Rachel the control.

"And which part will I be singing?" She questioned her.

"Galinda." She told her. "We should really start practicing." Rachel added, grabbing her own sheet of music and nodding over at Brad, the piano player to tell him to start the music.

Two days later the girls found themselves singing the song in front of the whole of the club, both of them acting it out. Alice found that she actually ended up enjoying it, despite the meaning of the song. They almost competed against each other seeing who could belt out the notes stronger. The club watched in awe clapping as they finished.

Alice laughed going to take a seat. "Well Rachel that was a lot of fun." She said, realising when she didn't get a response that Rachel had left the room. "Where did she go?" Alice asked.

"She stormed out." Finn told her, standing up angrily.

"Why?" Alice wondered confused. She looked around her at the faces in the room, they all looked uncomfortable.

"You do understand the meaning of the song, right?" Finn questioned her.

"Of course, Rachel chose it herself. I thought we were just having a bit of fun." She told him.

"Glee club isn't just a bit of fun to her though." Finn said almost mocking her. "You and your brother have been nothing but trouble for this club since both of you arrived."

"Excuse me? Hold on a second Finn." Alice said now annoyed. "First of all, I have only been here for a month, your girlfriend has barely even spoken to me, and you expect me to know everything about her? Also Blaine hasn't even been here for very long either, so I'm not able to understand how we're trouble to this club. Judging by your leadership skills and the fact that funnily enough you and Rachel were the ones that cost, this so called 'family' you've been boasting about, Nationals last year the only people who are bad for this club are you and Rachel. Not to mention the fact that you were also the reason that two very talented people left New Directions for another group not so long ago. So please, before you go making your judgments on my family and I think about your own actions first." Finn stood there stunned, not commenting he too stormed out the room to go find his girlfriend.

"That's what I thought." Alice mumbled, taking her seat next to Rory.

"You ok?" Blaine asked Alice coming over to her in the hallway as she was putting some books in her locker.

"Yeah of course, why wouldn't I be?" She smiled.

"It's just, Rachel can be a little over dramatic sometimes. That's just who she is… I know she's not been acting that greatly towards you but I also know that you're better than holding grudges. Speak to her, find out what's wrong and try to sort it out." Blaine suggested.

Alice closed her locker after taking out the books she needed for after lunch was over. "I will." She promised him.

At the other end of the hall Rory was also at his locker. Him and Alice deciding to meet halfway once they were both done putting things away. He closed it quickly, starting to head off to meet her.

"Hi." Finn said walking past, coming back over when he realised that he had been ignored. "What's wrong?" He asked him.

Rory, looked at the meeting point seeing Alice standing waiting. "You can't act that way towards other people in the group Finn." He told him.

"What, did she put you up to this?" He gestured towards Alice behind him.

"She has a name, and no, Alice did not make me do anything." He began. "You were the one that told me that the Glee club was a family, a team, and as far as I've seen the way you and Rachel have been treating some of the other members isn't very leader like. I need to go meet my girlfriend now, Bye Finn." He then walked off, leaving Finn standing alone in the corridor.

Alice stood in the auditorium waiting, checking the clock on her phone every now and then. Late, Rachel turned up shocked to see Alice. "Blaine told me Kurt wanted to meet me here after school. What are you doing here?" She questioned.

"Blaine lied so that I could have a word with you. I didn't think you would show up if he had said it was me." She told her honestly. "I just wanted to ask you what your problem is with me? Ever since I joined McKinley you haven't been very welcoming."

Rachel looked down at the floor, placing the books she had been carrying onto the piano taking a deep breath before she spoke. "I'm intimidated by you." She said, seeing Alice's surprised reaction. "You're very talented, you have a voice that could easily be better than mine with the right training and you dance like Brittany."

Alice laughed lightly. "But you're Rachel Berry! I heard about you even before Blaine told me. The rest of the Triple Threats said that I had to watch out for you and when I saw you perform in Westside Story I understood why. You know each and every one of your solos made me cry? You are amazing, you don't need to be intimidated by me!"

Rachel shook her head, laughing too. "Thank you." She said smiling. "I'm really sorry for acting so rude."

"It's fine." Alice answered smiling back at her. "I'm taking the fact that you were intimidated by me as a compliment." She laughed, Rachel laughed with her.

"Friends?" Rachel said.

"Friends." She agreed.


	9. Chapter 9

Ryan and Stacey stood face to face, hand in hand and unable to stop smiling. They were in a small, beautifully decorated room, that Stacey and Tanya had planned out together. Only close family members sat in the 4 rows of seats that were placed at either side of the walk way that not so long ago, dressed in a plain white dress, Stacey had walked down her father on her arm to meet Ryan at the end. It was their wedding day and they couldn't be happier.

"Do you, Stacey Thomson, take Ryan Anderson to be your lawfully wedded husband?" Asked the tall, middle aged man wedding them.

"I do." She answered, smiling up at Ryan.

"And do you, Ryan Anderson, take Stacey Thomson to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

He grinned, giving her a quick wink. "I do." He told him.

"Then I now pronounce you husband and wife." He said then turning to Ryan. "You may now kiss the bride."

Ryan leaned in putting one hand on the side of her cheek and kissed her, both of them smiling as the small audience clapped. Tanya wiped the tears as they fell from her eyes with a tissue, Blaine and Alice both by her side.

"I love you, Mrs Anderson." Ryan smirked, giving her one more quick kiss.

"I love you too, Mr Anderson." She replied. With that they walked back down the aisle hand in hand.

"How was the wedding?" Kurt asked leaning on the breakfast bar in Blaine's kitchen the next day, excited to hear all about it.

"It was amazing." He told him. "Everything they wanted." Blaine smiled, pouring a drink for them both.

"Has your dad found out about it yet?" He wondered. Ryan had decided, probably for the best, not to invite his estranged father to the wedding. It would have only made things uncomfortable and Ryan supposed he wouldn't have turned up anyway.

"Not that I know of." Blaine answered, handing Kurt the drink. "When he does I'm not sure if he'll do anything about it though. He never bothered with things before."

Kurt nodded understanding. "Hi Alice." He said as she came into the kitchen.

"Hey!" She smiled. "I just came in to tell you I'm going out." She told them.

"Where to?" Kurt asked curious.

"Rory wants to meet up." She said.

Kurt smirked looking over at Blaine, raising his eyebrows. "Do you hear that Blaine, Rory wants to meet up." He teased. "Not getting many details, are we?"

Alice laughed, shaking her head at them. "Bye guys, see you when I get home." She waved leaving them to it.

"Young love, eh?" Kurt giggled taking a sip of his drink.

"So we're old now?" Blaine laughed sitting down next to him.

"I certainly feel it." The two of them laughed. Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine holding him close.

"Do you think that Alice would ever," He paused thinking of how to word his question. "cheat on someone?"

"Of course not, what makes you say that?" Kurt asked shocked that Blaine might even consider his sister cheating.

"It's just Sebastian said something to me at Regionals-"

"Sebastian? And you believed him."

"No, not really. I was wondering because in the past she did do quite a lot of bad things but she was going through an episode then." Blaine explained to him.

Kurt squeezed him. "Don't worry about it, Alice wouldn't do that." He then pulled him even closer and kissed him.

Blaine took a breath looking down and laughing. "What was that for?"

"Just for being you." Kurt smiled.

"Hey beautiful." Rory greeted Alice with a huge hug, quickly kissing her on the lips.

Alice blushed lightly, feeling the knots in her stomach that she had the first time she met him. "Hi." She smiled up at him. He had asked her to meet him on the bridge in Lima Park, where they first kissed and obviously she had accepted.

"How are you?" He asked leaning on the bar like the last time they were there.

"I'm great thanks, you?"

"I'm good." He said half heartedly.

"What's wrong?" She wondered putting her hand on his.

He took a deep breath, standing up straight, taking both her hands in his. "Alice, there's something we've avoided talking about since we started dating." She looked down at her feet nervously, knowing what he was about to say. "I'm only a foreign exchange student and…" He paused finding the words hard to say. "I'm going home next weekend."

Alice nodded, unable to say anything. He'd told her briefly before the date that he was going home, since then neither of them had spoken of it. To Alice it seemed as if it had been slowly creeping up but now it felt as if it had came to fast. She did her best not to cry, the feelings that had been held back for a while all rushing through her.

"I just wanted to say, this week I want to make the best of it. I love you Alice Anderson and no matter what I will never, ever forget you." He told her lifting her chin, blinking back his own tears.

"I feel exactly the same." She said, putting her arms around his body and holding him tightly, her head rested on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head, taking yet another deep breath.

Tanya walked through to the hallway, hearing the phone ringing from through in the kitchen. Her divorce was finally over, she had gotten quite a lot of money, the house and the car, but most importantly full custody of the children. Richard was no longer in her life and he could no longer bother her… or so she thought.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Why wasn't I invited?" Richard slurred angrily.

"What do you mean why weren't you invited?" She sighed wondering if she had thought to soon when she had been so glad to finally get peace.

"To my own sons wedding." He shouted down the phone.

"I wonder Richard." She shook her head though he couldn't see.

"Don't get snappy with me. I want an explanation." He argued.

"Well Richard, you are a drunken, idiotic fool who put his own family in a horrible position for years and you also raised your hand to one of your wonderful children. I honestly can't believe you actually still don't realise what you've done." Tanya told him quickly putting down the phone before he had a chance to say anything back. His ex-wife had a new found confidence and she loved it. 


	10. Chapter 10

Ryan rushed into work running late. "So sorry I'm late, Burt." He said breathlessly as he reached the desk. "Stacey has a hospital appointment and no one else could take her."

"It's fine, I understand." Burt smiled. "Just give me a quick call next time, will you?"

"Definitely." He replied. "What am I doing today?"

Burt pointed. "That car over there. Just a quick tire change and a clean up." Ryan nodded walking over to it.

"How are things with your dad?" Burt asked him, curious.

"I haven't spoken to him since that night." He told him. "He did call my mom the other night though, about the wedding, apparently he's mad that he wasn't invited."

"Well, Ryan, no matter what you should stick to what you believe in. Don't let that man come in and try to control your life again." He told him.

"I will always stand by what I believe in." He promised, not only to Burt but to himself.

Once again New Directions were all sat in the choir room, however this time it was a more relaxed setting. Mr Shuester was at a meeting and had told them to all discuss songs they could sing for Regionals. Blaine sat at the piano mucking around with a few keys, playing the songs he thought they should do as Kurt leaned against it admiring him and bobbing along whenever he played an upbeat tune. Alice sat with Rory, cuddling into him, both of them swaying to the music. The others danced, argued over songs and even sang.

Giving the piano back to Brad, Blaine walked over to Kurt leaning on the piano beside him. He watched his sister closely. Despite Kurt's reassurance he couldn't stop that worry he had in the back of his mind. What Sebastian had said had thrown him, he knew that Jeff must have told him what happened in the past but he didn't think it could happen again. She'd been taking her tablets and didn't seem to be showing any strange behaviour as far as he was concerned but was her bipolar disorder really the only cause of her cheating?

"What are you thinking about?" Kurt asked him noticing the distance in his face.

"Nothing really." He told him.

"Don't lie Blaine." Kurt replied.

"I'm still worried about that thing I brought up last Saturday." He answered, unable to hold anything back from Kurt.

"Well, if you're really that worried ask her." He said though he still didn't trust what Sebastian had told Blaine. Alice was a good person, she would never willingly hurt anyone though he could understand why Blaine would be worried. 

"So I was thinking tonight we could go out for dinner then catch a movie?" Rory said to Alice as they sat together in the choir room.

"Yeah, sounds good." She smiled, kissing him quickly on the cheek. It was now Thursday, Rory was going home to Ireland in 3 days and for the past 2 nights they had been going out together to make the most of the time they had left. She cuddled into his shoulder, trying not to think about it.

That evening as Alice was getting ready to go out with Rory, Blaine knocked on her door. She called him in and he came and sat down on her bed.

"Alice, can I ask you about something?" He wondered, looking down at the carpet.

"Yeah sure, what is it?" She asked, quickly finishing applying mascara in the mirror and turning around to face him.

"Please don't react badly to this but someone said something to me and I was just wondering, have you cheated on Rory?" He questioned her feeling awkward about the whole situation.

Alice paused shocked, her heart beating fast with nerves. She walked over to the bed, sitting down next to him. "Who said that?"

"Well, he didn't exactly say you cheated but Sebastian suggested something to me along the lines." He answered her.

She looked away from him guiltily, letting out a frustrated sigh, she felt so angry. Blaine noticed that she was finding it hard to think of an answer. "You didn't, did you?" He asked her shocked.

"No! No!" She quickly said. "Not exactly."

"Alice?" Blaine mumbled.

"No, just listen. You know when I went to the bathroom at Regionals before we performed?" She asked, Blaine nodded. "Sebastian waited outside for me and he started going on about how he was bored with guys or something then he kissed me. I pushed him away, I promise, I didn't want him to do it."

"Sebastian kissed you?" Blaine laughed. "Alice, are you out of you mind?"

"You don't believe me?" She frowned.

"I...I just find it a little weird, that's all." He replied.

"So you don't, then?" She said. Blaine looked at her. "Blaine! I'm being completely honest, I would never do anything like that to Rory. I love him. Sebastian kissed me."

"Ok. I believe you." He told her. Wondering why on earth Sebastian would do something like that. Yes, the guy was happily going after Blaine even though he had a boyfriend but he was positive that he was gay, wasn't he? He decided to put it to the back of his mind for now, leaving Alice to get ready, and ask Kurt about the situation the next day.

"He did what?" Kurt exclaimed standing next to Blaine at his locker the next day.

"Apparently so." Blaine said shaking his head.

"I cannot believe that boy. He is seriously messed up in the head." Kurt said completely shocked by what his boyfriend had just told him. "What are you going to do?"

"Really I have no idea." Blaine answered him swapping books over. "The whole thing, it's just a bit strange to me."

"What you don't think she's telling the truth?" He asked him, Blaine closed his locker and leaned against it.

"I don't know." He shrugged.

"She's your sister! Why would she lie about something like that? Especially to you." Kurt told him.

"Maybe I should go see him." Blaine said.

"I'm coming with you."

After school Kurt and Blaine found themselves outside Dalton Academy. Blaine had quickly texted Sebastian telling him to meet them there and sure enough he came, over-confident grin and all. He looked disappointed when he saw Kurt standing next to him with his arms crossed.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked them.

"Let's cut it straight to the point," Blaine began. "Did you or did you not kiss my sister?"

Sebastian laughed. "Has she been telling tales on me?" He jokingly pouted his lip not in the slightest bit concerned.

"You jerk." Kurt said glaring at him.

"Well I couldn't help myself, she kept paying me visits and after hearing what she did to Jeff I had to try it out for myself." He explained.

"Listen here buddy, if you ever touch my sister again I can't promise you you will not be laughing." Blaine began to shout pointing his finger at Sebastian.

"I'm intrigued." Sebastian continued to act cocky not knowing the power of an angry older brother. He was stunned as a hand swiftly collided with his face and he fell into the wall beside him. He let out a sigh of pain checking to see if there was any blood around his lip or nose.

"I hope you get the message now." Blaine told him before walking away.

Kurt smirked at Sebastian following on after his boyfriend. "That was strangely hot." He squealed, squeezing his shoulders.

"Is that everything?" Alice asked Rory. They were in his bedroom at the home of Brittany where Rory had been staying during his time as a foreign exchange student. His last day of school had been hard, he had to say goodbye to the small number of friends he'd made at McKinely and he couldn't help but feel emotional.

"Yeah, everything but the clothes I'm wearing tomorrow and on Sunday and the stuff I'm going to be using until then but I'll remember to pack them later." He told her. They sat down on his bed both sighing. "It looks so empty." He laughed looking around the room which had once been filled with his things.

"It does." Alice replied with a small smile on her face.

"Alice, I have something for you." Rory told her. "It's nothing special and I was going to give it to you on Sunday but I can't wait." She giggled as he went into his drawer taking out one t-shirt he had deliberately not packed.

"A t-shirt?" She asked taking it from him.

"Like I said, nothing special, just look at what it says on it." He grinned sitting back down again. She unfolded it revealing the design of it. 'I Love Ireland' in big bold letters.

She laughed. "I love it."

"It's just something to remember me by and anyway it's a bit tight on me nowadays." He joked.

"Come here." She said wrapping her arms around him and hugging him. "I wish I'd brought something for you now." She sat, thinking of what she could possibly give him. Looking down at her wrist, she found the answer. Her old beaded bracelet that she had made when she was about 10 and for some reason had refused to take of since. "Here." She said taking it off and handing it to him.

"I really wasn't bothered about getting anything back." He told her.

"I know but I don't want you forgetting me now do I?" She giggled. "Plus it was getting a little tight for my wrist now anyway." She winked at him.

The two of them sat there for a while just smiling. They both thought of Sunday and how much they were dreading that day. Both of them wondered whether their decision to not have a long distance relationship was going to work.

"Hey, Rory." Alice began to speak again. She put the t-shirt on his bedside table and moved closer to him. "I really love you and I think what we have is so amazing. I know we're young but there's something that I want to share with you, something that no one else will be able to have." She took his hand hoping that he would understand what she meant.

He nodded,smiling. "I feel the same." He told her leaning in further and kissing her softly.

Alice's phone rang in her bag and she jumped up from the bed, pushing hair back from her face. "Oh gosh, what time is it?" She wondered out loud, running to search for her phone. "8:30am..." She whispered to herself before picking up the phone. "Hello?"

"Where the hell are you?" Blaine asked, you haven't come home.

"I'm sorry, I... Uhm, after packing Rory and I watched a movie, I fell asleep on the couch and he didn't want to wake me." She lied, quickly trying to gather all of her stuff. Rory watched her from the bed, laughing quietly at her nervousness.

"Ok, just be home soon. I was really worried about you." He told her.

"I'm sorry." She said again. "I'm just about to leave. I'll see you soon." She hung up, rushing to gather her things.

"You're so cute." Rory smiled, still laughing.

"Oh stop." She smiled sitting on the bed to put her shoes on. He came up behind her wrapping his arms around her and kissing her neck a few times. She giggled, "Rory, stop it."

"Do you have to go?" He asked her.

"Yes or Blaine will get even more annoyed at me and I don't want that. I'm seeing you tonight as well, Breadstix, remember?" She told him.

"Yeah, I know." He replied.

She stood up again, turning back around to kiss him. "Bye." She said heading towards the door. "I'll see you later."

"Bye." He smiled.

Blaine walked up and down the hall, waiting for his sister to come through the door. "Relax, Blaine." Kurt laughed. "She's young, give her some space."

"That still doesn't give her an excuse to be out all night, I had to cover for her." He said, crossing his arms.

"What like she covered for us when you had to sneak me out the door?" Kurt raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah but that's different, she's younger." He told him.

"No, what you mean is that she's your little sister, you're her over-protective older brother and you're worried." Kurt laughed again. He shook his head watching Blaine continue to stalk the hall, going up and down like a non-stop yo-yo. Alice finally came in, trying to quietly close the door so she could run upstairs for a shower without getting hassle. However, it wasn't that easy she realised when she was greeted by Blaine and Kurt in the hallway.

"Where have you been?" Blaine shouted.

"I told you on the phone, I fell asleep on Rory's couch." She repeated.

"I don't believe you." He told her.

"What's not to believe." She asked. Blaine went silent.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "He thinks you've done 'it' with Rory."

Alice laughed trying to hide her nerves. "Oh Blaine." She said. "I need to go for a shower and get changed. Please excuse me." She quickly walked past them, running up the stairs to try and hide the fact that she was lying.

"She never gave us a straight answer." Blaine muttered.

"Don't be so pushy, she's a teenage girl. Why would she tell her older brother of all people about that kind of thing." Kurt chuckled. "Now come on, we have a party to plan!" He pushed him towards the kitchen where the rest of New Directions were all discussing their plans for that evening.

Later that night showered and changed into one of her best dresses, Alice waited nervously for her boyfriend to come and meet her. She had came five minutes early and surely enough he came right on the dot at half past 6.

"Hello beautiful." He smiled, giving her a quick kiss. The way he usually greeted her. Alice thought about how much she'd miss that when he was gone.

"Hello." She grinned up at him. Both of them pushing back the sad feelings about it being their last night together.

They walked hand in hand towards the entrance of the restaurant. "It looks really quiet," Rory said confused. "Is it open?"

"Should be." Alice answered. "Why don't you just try the door?" He opened it and walked inside Alice following him still gripping tightly to his hand.

"Surprise!" The whole of New Directions jumped up from the booths making Rory jumped. Alice laughed, clapping excitedly.

"What's this?" Rory asked laughing too.

"It's your surprise party. We can't let you leave without a bang!" Alice winked, dragging him over to join everyone.

The night went by everyone, laughing, dancing to the music and talking. They all had a blast, almost forgetting that the reason this was being held was because one of the group was leaving. Alice tried to be happy and outgoing so that no one would notice the fact she was truly upset and also so that Rory could have a good night without worrying about her. It went by fast, almost too fast and before they knew it the party was over and so was Rory's time in America.

"I'll miss you." Alice cried looking up at Rory, they were at the airport, Brittany and her family saying their goodbyes at the door and leaving the couple to it. Kurt and Blaine waited outside for her, also having said their goodbyes.

"I will never forget you Alice Anderson." He tried to smile, wiping away a tear from her cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too." She said, then hugging him tight before looking up at him again. They kissed both wanting to stay in that moment forever, holding each other tightly afterwards.

"I have to go." His voice cracked as he squeezed her hand one last time taking a long look at her as if to memorise each detail of her face. Then finally he walked away, leaving her standing watching him until he was out of site. Alice wiped her eyes though it didn't help stop the tears from falling down her cheeks. She broke down into the arms of her older brother as she met Blaine again outside the airport. He held her tight though now there would be no hope in comforting her for a long time to come.


	11. Chapter 11

Alice pulled out a small cardboard box from under her bed and opened it slowly. A smile lit up her face as she took out the t-shirt Rory had given her. "I love Ireland." She mumbled quietly to herself reading the print before putting it to the side. Once again she searched through the box, picking up the photos she had printed from her camera. Flipping through them she couldn't help laughing, most of the ones of Rory alone were of him pulling funny faces, the others of the two of them together practically gleaming with happiness. However, her laughter soon turned to tears as she realised once again that he was gone and she would likely never see him again. Quickly she put the pictures away as if they would change at the sight of her crying, picking the t-shirt up once again and holding it to her chest. She took a deep breath pushing the box back to where it had been before.

Blaine wandered into his little sisters room, checking if she was ok after the sad day she had just had, to find her fast asleep still in the days clothes on her bed. She gripped what looked like a shirt tightly to her chest. He shook his head, with a small smile grabbing the blanket that lay on the end of her bed and putting it over her. All he could do was hope that she would be ok and know that he would do whatever he could to help her get through this. Before leaving the room he kissed her forehead. "Sleep well." He whispered. 

The next day after school New Directions began to gather in the choir room, chatting away to one another happily. Alice trudged in alone, just a few minutes later than everyone else, the room fell silent as they all saw her. Not dressed as fashionably as usual wearing a hoodie and jeans and with no bright smile on her face. She pushed her hair back, awkwardly wondering over to a seat at the back. Kurt looked to Blaine, flashing him a look of concern, he shrugged lightly in answer, shaking his head. He himself was full of concern for her, she had barley eaten that morning and wasn't acting like herself at all. It was understandable, if Blaine lost Kurt he was sure he would be very, very unhappy but he wanted her to be happy and he wasn't sure how to help her.

"I'm really worried about her." Blaine told Kurt, sitting across from him at the Lima Bean that day after school. "I don't know what to do."

Kurt looked at him, feeling his sadness. "Is there anything you think we could do to cheer her up?" Kurt asked him.

"I really just don't know." Blaine shook his head, then leaning on his head. Worry was written all over his face and he felt himself about to well up but kept it back.

"Blaine," Kurt exclaimed. "She'll get better soon, these things do take time. I've lost someone very dear to me with absolutely no chance of getting them back… yes I miss my mom but I'm happy because I know that what she would have wanted. Alice will be better soon enough, I promise" He took Blaine's hand holding it across the table.

"Thank you, Kurt, for always being there for me." He told him

.

"2 months to go!" Stacey squealed excitedly marking yesterdays date off of her calendar which hung from a peg in the kitchen.

Ryan came up behind her hugging her. "That's right." He said into her neck, kissing it shortly after. "Our beautiful baby boy will be here with us in no time."

"Easy for you to say," She laughed. "You don't actually have to give birth to the baby!"

Ryan laughed. "I was thinking, we could go out for lunch today! To celebrate!"

"Celebrate what?" She asked him.

"Life!" He smiled. "Being so perfect for once."

"Maybe we should invite Tanya." She told him, with a smile.

"Why?" He asked, only out of curiosity.

"Because I want her to be at the birth." She said, turning round to face him.

"Wow, Stacey! That's amazing. I'm sure she'll be very excited!" He grinned. The idea was perfect, his mother had been supporting them from the start. She had helped Stacey as much as she could and he knew that being at the birth of her first grandchild would mean in the world to her.

It was Friday night, Alice was stood outside one of Lima's many night clubs waiting. All she wanted to do was forget everything. Her life felt as if it had no meaning and she no longer cared for anything or anyone, or at least that's what she convinced herself she felt.

"Hey Alice." Sebastian said coming out of the club to meet her. He stumbled a little before placing his hand on the wall behind her, leaning over her drunkenly.

"Just don't say anything." She told him, pulling him closer and kissing him. She would honestly do anything just to forget so that she could live her life again.

Once they had stopped, Sebastian grinned in his usual self-confident way going into his pocket. "I got you what you wanted." He handed her the ID card.

"It better work." She said grabbing it from him and scanning it quickly, making sure it was believable.

"Why don't we try it out?" He suggested taking her by the wrist and leading her into the club.

Once again Blaine wondered into Alice's room to see how she was doing. Her bedside lamp was on but she was nowhere to be seen. He looked around confused, checking his watch. '11:30' it read. Leaving the room he searched around the house making sure not to disturb his mother who was sleeping in the room next to hers. He couldn't find her anywhere and didn't remember her saying she'd be going out.

The worried brother picked up his cell phone, finding Alice's name in his contacts and pressing call. It rang 10 times before going to answering machine. "Alice, if you get this please call me. I have no idea where you are, I'm worried. Call soon, please." He signed hanging up, trying it again.

27 phone calls and 20 texts later Alice walked through the door, finding Blaine sitting on a chair in the hallway, his head in his hands. He looked up relieved to see her but angry that she hadn't called him and that she was walking through the door at 3am. "Where the hell have you been?" He questioned her.

"Leave it, Blaine." She told him. "It's none of your business." She made her way up the stairs but he followed after her. Stopping her half way.

"Actually it is my business. I'm your older brother, don't I have a right to know where you've been, especially since you never even told me you were going out." He said.

"I said leave it." She muttered.

"Do I smell alcohol?" He wondered. "Alice, have you been drinking?" He looked at her completely concerned. Rory leaving had hurt her, he knew that but he didn't think she would go to that length. Especially since she was so against alcohol.

"Just because dad isn't around doesn't mean you have to try and replace him." She snapped, not even considering how he might feel about it or answering the question he had just asked her.

"Alice?" He whispered hurt, she turned away from him making her way to her room and slamming the door. He flinched, hoping that it wouldn't wake their mother. Sighing, confused and sad he made his way back to his own room deciding to leave it to another day.

Tanya watched her two children as they ate in silence at the breakfast bar the next morning. It had been a while since it had been this quiet in the house with the three of them together, in fact, Tanya thought, it hadn't been this quiet since Richard left. Her daughter ate quickly, lobbing her bowl in the sink.

"I'm going out." She told them.

"Ok, see you when you get home." Tanya smiled at her. Alice gave her a small smile before quickly leaving. Blaine watched her leave, he wanted to stop her but didn't want to make his mother suspicious though as it happened she already was.

"Has Alice been acting ok?" Tanya questioned him taking a sip out of the mug of tea she had made for herself not to long ago.

Blaine looked down at his half eaten piece of toast. "Not really," He told her, "I think it's to do with Rory leaving."

She nodded. "I'm just worried. Do you know if she's been taking her pills?" She asked, whispering as though she hadn't heard the front door close.

"I haven't seen her take them in a while but Alice wouldn't stop taking them. She's to responsible for that." He said. His sister would never stop taking them, especially considering what had happened last time.

"Right everyone, please take a seat!" Mr Shuester came into the choir room ready to discuss plans for Nationals with them. "I have some ideas for Nationals."

"Can't wait to hear!" Rachel almost sang excitedly.

"So I'm thinking we start it off with a ballad." Mr Shuester began.

"I am happy to oblige." Rachel spoke again.

"Actually I was thinking of giving the solo to Alice!" He told them.

Everyone looked around at her. Again she was sitting alone at the back of the room. "Me?" She scoffed. "I wouldn't want anyone to think I was causing trouble, or not taking it seriously enough." The girl laughed, shaking her head.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Finn asked her, realising her dig.

"It's supposed to mean that I don't want you getting annoyed at me for getting the solo, though I was not the one who suggested it in the first place." She told him.

"Now that's just rude." He argued, standing up. She did so too.

"Have I had an apology yet?" She asked him. "I don't think so, leader."

"Look Alice, I know you're upset because Rory left but that doesn't mean you have to take it out on others." Finn said.

She glared at him. "You think that's what I'm doing!" Alice now shouted. "I'm fine, I am completely fine. The only reason I said that is because you are an idiot."

"You know what I don't think you are fine. I think it's eating you up and you're blaming the world."

Alice screamed at him in anger. "Can you not bring him into this. I don't need this. I don't need to be constantly reminded that the guy I love is thousands of miles away whilst you can just be with your girlfriend 24/7 because I know!" She shouted. "I freaking know it and I hate it." She kicked the chair in front of her, luckily it didn't hit anyone.

"Alice, please calm down." Mr Shuester told her.

"Calm down! So now people are telling me how to feel as well as reminding me about something that I am obviously going to get upset about. That's just great." She exclaimed.

"Alice!" Blaine came towards her putting his hands on her shoulders. "Please."

"Get off me, Blaine!" She screamed pushing him away. He looked at her shocked, his sister had never spoken to him in that way. The two had never had an argument in their lives. "I am sick to death of everyone telling me what to do and feeling sorry for me all the time." She shouted one last time before storming out the door.

"Hi, it's Alice… leave a message!" Her answering machine told Blaine yet again. He hung up and pressed call. After leaving the choir room Alice had not returned home, it was now 10pm. Her mother paced the living room calling relatives to see if she was with them, this situation would seem all a bit to drastic to usual families, however, Blaine was incredibly worried that his sister had not been taking her pills to help with her bipolar disorder after the incident during Glee club. The fact that she was already mad and upset could mean really bad consequences, consequences that Blaine couldn't bring himself to think about.

Getting the answering machine again Blaine decided to call his older brother, who was now searching the streets in his car.

"Hi Blaine." Stacey answered him. She had refused to stay at home when Ryan told her that Alice was missing and was now in the passenger seat next to him.

"Any sign of her yet?" He asked though by the blank tone in Stacey's voice he already knew the answer.

"No, sorry Blaine. We're really trying but we can't seem to find her." She told him. "Is there any where you think she might go?" She wondered. Ryan stayed focused on driving slowly through the streets so that at least one of them might spot her.

"I'm really not sure." He said rubbing his forehead and taking a deep breath. He walked from the kitchen into the hallway, stopping for a moment to think.

"We'll call you if we hear or see anything." Stacey said before saying goodbye and hanging up. Blaine stared at the front door, shoving his phone in his pocket. He remembered the amount of times he had spoken to Alice there, whether they were coming inside together or she was coming in alone. Then all of a sudden something clicked.

"Mom!" He shouted. "I'm away to go and help search for Alice."

"Ok." She said obviously still on the phone to relatives. There was one number that she would leave to last and would only call if the situation got really desperate. That number was Richards.

Blaine jumped out of his car and ran through the gates of Lima Park, he searched around corners, looking at each face that he passed by on the way. None of them resembled that of his sisters. After an hour or so of searching he was ready to give up, he breathed heavily only walking now until he reached the middle of the park seeing Alice sitting on the bridge her head down and her hair covering her face. Relief filled him, he would call Ryan and his mother after they got a chance to talk.

"Alice!" He shouted, coming towards her.

"Are you here to shout at me?" She sniffed not looking up at him.

He sat down in front of her, trying to look into her eyes. "No, no more shouting." He told her trying desperately to comfort her. She didn't reply. "You have to come home."

"I don't want to."

"Oh come on Alice, you aren't a little girl anymore." He said, pushing the hair on the left side of her face behind her ear. He noticed that she was crying.

"I'm so stupid." She mumbled.

"No you're not, what makes you say that?"

"Everything around me falls to pieces, even I'm falling to pieces." She cried putting her face in her hands. "I'm so stupid." She repeated.

"I need to take you home." He told her again.

"Are you mad at me, Blaine?" She asked him avoiding the topic altogether.

"No, I can never be mad at you." He said. "Now will you let me take you home?" She nodded standing up, quickly looking at everything around her before following him out of the park that she held so dear to her.

They got into Blaine's car and sat in silence the whole time. Alice slowly began to realise that the route they were taking was not home and when Blaine parked outside the hospital she began to shake. "I'm fine." She told him. "I'm not sick, I don't need to be here."

"Alice, trust me. I want to help you. I know that you haven't been taking your pills."

"But I'm fine."

"You're not."

She sighed letting him open the car door for her, he locked it then took her arm and walked with her into the hospital. It was when she was being checked that he called his family to tell them that he had found her and where they were, all of them agreeing to meet him there as soon as possible. None of them were angry all just glad that Alice was safe and would be well in no time. 


	12. Chapter 12

There was a knock on the door, Blaine was the only one home, only getting fresh clothes for Alice as she was staying for her last night in the hospital after spending 3 days there. He ran to answer it, surprised to find Sebastian smirking at him from behind it.

"Oh hi Blaine, is your sister in?" He asked cockily. He wasn't scared of Blaine, in fact he found the way he was acting quite interesting.

"No, what do you want?" Blaine questioned him, glaring.

"Well, your sister accidentally left this with me." He said handing him over a small purse.

"I thought I told you to stay away from her." He muttered taking the purse from him and checking to see what was in it.

"Yes but you didn't warn her to stay away from me." He sniggered, his hands in his jean pockets.

"It was you she was out with that night wasn't it." Blaine realised. "How dare you take advantage of her like that!" He was now shouting leaning in close to Sebastian who still smiled unthreatened.

"I didn't, like I said she came to me." He put his hands up as if to tell Blaine to calm down, but that was something he wouldn't do. When it came to his sister he would protect her no matter what.

"You aren't stupid Sebastian, you knew exactly why she was with you." He exclaimed, angrily. "You are a disgusting human being and I suggest you stop right where you are before it's to late." With that Blaine slammed the door on his face, hoping very much to shut him out forever.

Later that evening he sat alone with his sister in her room at the hospital. She was back to her usual self only there for one more night so that the doctors could be fully sure. "I'm sorry." She said for what must have been the 5th time since he came back with her clothes.

"Honestly Alice it's fine." He told her.

"I know, it's just I feel so horrible for putting you through that again." She mumbled playing with a strand of hair, watching it weave through her fingers.

"It's ok, really I just want to know why." He said, hinting for an answer.

"Well, it started off an accident and with time it kind of just stayed that way." She began. "The night I fell asleep at Rory's I forgot to take them, obviously not knowing I would fall asleep. Then that morning when I woke up I was in such a rush I forgot again. The night of the party and afterwards I don't really have excuses for. Just me, being an idiot."

Blaine nodded. "As long as you're better now." He said. "That's all that matters." She smiled up at him forever thankful that she had such a supportive family behind her. 

The first day back at school was daunting enough for Alice as she wondered through the corridors feeling as if everyone knew what had happened. However, the scariest thing she felt she had to do was face New Directions again. Now as she made her way into the choir room, she could feel her heart rushing with nerves. Everyone was already seated, so she put her plan into action. "Mr. Shue," She said, he turned around to face her with a smile. "Is it alright if I have a word with everyone."

"Yes of course Alice. Go ahead." He answered. The group all stared down at her, Blaine giving her a smile and a thumbs up to show her she wasn't alone.

"Hi everyone." She said awkwardly. "I would first of all like to say that I am very sorry, especially to Mr. Shue and you too Finn. I hope you all understand that the person you saw last week wasn't me, I was having an episode due to me, stupidly, forgetting to take my pills for my bipolar disorder. I promise you it wont happen again and I hope you can forgive me."

They all smiled at her, even Finn who came over and took her in his arms. Surprised she hugged him back. "I'm sorry for the way I acted too, I had no excuse." He told her. She smiled, nodding to show that she was thankful of his apology. Then the rest of New Directions joined them, each one of them hugging her.

"You guys are way to nice." She laughed, going to take a seat as the rest of them did.

"Right, now that that's sorted let's go ahead with our plans for Nationals!" Mr Shuester announced happily. "Alice are you still up for that solo?"

"You still want me to have it?" She asked shocked that he hadn't given it to someone else in the time that she was away.

"That's only if you want to." he said.

"Go for it." Said Rachel who turned, sitting in front of her. "You'll do great."

"Ok, I'll do it." She smiled never feeling more at home. 


	13. Chapter 13

"Ok so my new years resolutions this year are..." Alice began sitting in the kitchen of the Hummel-Hudson household across from Kurt and next to Rachel. They were throwing a New Years party and had invited Blaine and Alice's family to come along. "One, to keep control over myself, so no crazy Alice this year. Two, to not get myself into any relationships that are sure not to last. And last but not least, three, to clear up as many regrets as possible!"

Her friends clapped. "My only resolution is to get to New York!" Rachel announced.

"Ditto to that!" Kurt laughed, the two girls giggling with him.

"So how are you going to go about sorting out those regrets?" Rachel asked Alice curiously.

"It all starts with one..."

Alice knocked on the door of the address she'd been given, taking a deep breath. It was answered in no time. "Hello, can I help you?" Asked a pretty, middle aged, blonde woman.

"Yeah, does Jeff live here by any chance?" She wondered.

The woman smirked. "Do you want me to go get him for you, sweetheart?"

"Please." Alice said politely.

She nodded leaving the door open. "Jeff, there's a girl at the door for you!" She shouted teasing him, not knowing that the girl could hear her.

He came to the door, almost jumping at the sight of the girl he had once fallen so deeply for but had also been badly hurt by. "Hi." She said, unsure about how to start things.

"Hi." He replied, awkwardly leaning against the door frame. The two of them stood there in silence for what seemed like a while.

"Look," She started, "I came over to tell you that I'm incredibly sorry for what I did to you last year. It's something that I really do regret. I never wanted to hurt you."

"I know." He said. "Blaine explained the whole bipolar thing."

She nodded. "Do you think you can forgive me?" She asked him, knowing that even if the answer was no she could at least say she tried.

"Of course, Alice." He smiled.

"Great. Also if there is anything I can do to make it up to you properly I will." She added.

"There is one thing you could do." He mentioned.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" She wondered.

"Let me take you out, on a date." He told her with a hopeful smile.

Alice considered it. It wasn't breaking her resolution to stay out of relationships that were sure not to last and if it made what she did up to him that left one resolution partly done. Anyway, what harm could it do? "Sure." She replied.

"Great! How about 7pm on Friday night?" He asked.

She nodded, smiling back at him. "Sounds good to me!"

"I'll see you then, then." He grinned.

"Bye." She answered before turning to make her way back home. Jeff watched her walk away, he felt amazing, not only did his head feel clear but he felt as if he had finally gotten the girl he had always wanted.

Stacey nudged Ryan trying to wake him up. "Ryan." She said. "Ryan." She tried nudging him again but when that didn't work she hit him.

"What?" He groaned turning over to face her, his eyes half shut as the bedside lamp Stacey had turned on when she had been wakened shined into them.

She tightly gripped her stomach breathing in and out before answering. "I think the baby's coming." She told him.

"But it's a month to early." He sat up now, rubbing his eyes and looking concerned over at his wife.

"Don't you think I know that?" She hissed before screaming out in pain.

Ryan jumped out of the bed, shocked, he quickly got ready gathering some of his and Stacey's things before helping her out of the bed. "We better get you to hospital." He told her trying to stay calm though he was in complete panic. A group of 'What ifs?' came into his mind but he ignored them, his main aim to maintain the welfare of Stacey and his child.

Blaine and Alice sat nervously in the living room, awaiting a call. When it had gotten late Tanya had came out and told her children to go home and that she would call them when the baby was born. As much as they wanted to stay and wait Tanya insisted they go get some rest. However, that was easier said than done. The two of them decided to stay up and watch a movie, stocking up on energy drinks and popcorn on the way home.

"I wonder how long it'll take." Alice said staring at the phone anxiously.

"Don't worry, she'll call soon enough." Blaine told her.

"I know I'm just really excited to be an aunt." She smiled up at him. Neither of them were really concentrating on the movie. Blaine nodded, agreeing that he was also excited to become an uncle.

"So how are your resolutions going?" Blaine asked curiously, remembering how determined his sister had been just a few weeks ago. "Got anything done this early?"

"Maybe." She smirked, not really wanting to go into detail about how Jeff and her were going on their second date next week considering he had no idea about the first one.

"What are you smiling about?" He questioned her. He knew that look all to well and had always had the ability to read his sister like a book.

"Nothing." She giggled. He glared at her making her laugh even more.

"You liar, what's going on?" He asked. Alice was saved by the phone ringing, both of them jumping up from their seats. Blaine got it first. "Hello?"

"Blaine, it's mom!" Tanya squealed excitedly. "Your nephew is here! He's healthy despite being 3 weeks early, they just want to keep him in a few days longer and do one or two checkups. Not to mention, he's also gorgeous."

He put his thumbs up to let Alice know, and she grinned, clapping excitedly. "Can we come over and see him?" He asked.

"Of course." Tanya told him. "I'll see you when you get here, you remember what ward it is, right?"

"Yeah, see you soon mom!" He quickly put down the phone, turning off the TV and grabbing his keys, Alice following behind him. 

Ryan held his son in his arms, unable to stop staring at him. He was the most beautiful thing on earth to him, right next to his wife. Tom, after Stacey's father, had his mothers bright blue eyes and his fathers nose, alongside small tufts of brown hair. He was tiny, Ryan felt as if he had to be careful not to break him, particularly worrying about what to do when they took him home the next day. Even though they had everything set out, Tanya even going to the apartment and checking for him, he worried that without the help of doctors he would struggle to take care of him.

"Let me hold him." Stacey said sitting up in the bed she was staying in. He handed him to her carefully placing him in her arms. "Hi sweetie." She cooed, stroking one of his plump cheeks. Watching Stacey with the baby never failed to clear his worries, she was amazing with him, as he expected she would be. Every time Tom was placed into the hands of his mother he gave her a small smile and that small smile reassured Ryan that everything was going to be fine. Life is perfect, he remembered.

"You didn't need to walk me home." Alice smiled up at Jeff, who was by her side on the pavement. After their date he had told her he couldn't let her walk alone and had refused to listen when she told him she would be ok.

"You've told me that around ten times already, we're half way there now." He laughed, swinging her hand in his. "You have to give me some credit, I'm trying to be a gentleman." He winked at her.

"And that you are being," She laughed shaking her head, "and you have been all night."

"Well, I do try." He replied. The two of them talked all the way up to the house, they always found something to talk about so conversation was easy. Alice couldn't feel any leftover guilt from when she had hurt him all that time ago, it felt like quite a bit of weight had been take off of her shoulders and only one or two points of her resolution to clear her of her regrets were left.

"Here we are." Alice told him. "Thank you for walking me home Jeff."

"It was no problem at all, really." He smiled. Then he leaned in hoping to kiss her but was pulled into a hug instead.

"You're such a great person." She whispered into his shoulder, squeezing him tightly. She didn't realise that Jeff was disappointed, however he understood that maybe it would be to soon for her. After all, she had told him all about what happened with Rory, vowing to always be honest with him.

"You are too." He told her, hugging her back and quickly kissing her on the cheek. "I'll call you later?" She nodded, letting him walk away before heading towards the house. The door opened before she got to it.

"I so knew you were up to something." Blaine sniggered glaring over to her.

"Alice, you are so adorable." Kurt grinned leaning on Blaine's shoulder. "You have to tell us all about it. I'm not going home until you do." He demanded.

She shook her head hoping that she wasn't blushing. "Fine, just let me in the door first will you?" She laughed, the two boys rushing to the living room to take a seat and listen, and rolled her eyes shutting the door and going through to the living room to join them.


	14. Chapter 14

A few months later everyone sat in the choir room as usual. Talking away whilst waiting for Mr. Shuester to come to Glee club after a class. Alice, Kurt and Blaine sat together talking over this weeks issue of Vogue which Kurt held on his lap both of them looking over his shoulder. The room was silenced by someone coming through the door.

"Is this McKinley High Glee club by any chance?" They said laughing, in a thick Irish accent.

Alice stood up from her seat, in total and complete shock. Staring at the person for a long time before finding her voice. "Rory?" The word fell out of her mouth as if it had been stuck there for a long time. She met him in the middle of the room, unable to take her eyes off of him. "What are you doing here?" She laughed, still trying to deal with the surprise.

"My dad got a job in Lima, after hearing how great it was for me he decided that we were all going to move here." He told her happily. The sight of her taking his breath away. "So here I am."

"For good?" She asked.

"For good."

She shook her head in disbelief. "I just can't believe you're here." She said, almost forgetting that everyone else was there in the room with them.

"Me neither." He smiled wanting to lean in right there and then and kiss her like he did all those months ago. However, he couldn't as the rest of the New Directions came to welcome him back, hugging him and asking him how he was.

"Are you ok?" Kurt quickly came over to her and whispered, Blaine standing beside him also wondering.

She paused, thinking for a moment. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She told him, though she wasn't at all sure how she felt.

Rachel, Finn, Kurt, Blaine, Alice and Jeff sat around a table at Breadstix that night, all talking about Nationals which were coming up in just over a month. "We're going to be amazing!" Rachel said. "Last year was great but this year we will win it!" She patted Finn's leg reminding him of how they had gotten together again.

"You guys are making me jealous!" Jeff laughed before taking a gulp from the drink that was set out in front of him. "Performing in old peoples homes isn't exactly what I hoped to be doing!"

"You guys still do that?" Kurt asked, Blaine shook his head letting out a small laugh.

"I hope none of you mind but I kind of invited Rory. He hasn't really got anyone at the moment." Finn said, awkwardly. "I kind of let it slip that we were out, I couldn't not invite him."

Alice looked down at the table. "Rory's back?" Jeff asked Alice. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I just never got the chance." She told him, playing with the straw in her glass. The rest of the table watched the slight tension rise in the couple who had now been together for 3 months.

"Are you ok?" He wondered, though what he really meant to ask was 'Are you still in love with him?'.

"I'm fine, I'm with you now Jeff." She said taking his hand and squeezing it.

"I'm sorry," Finn started. "I didn't mean to-"

"Hi guys." Rory said coming over to the table. Everyone said hi back in unison all feeling the strangeness of being put into an awkward situation. He pulled over a chair sitting at the end of the table. His eyes shifting to Alice, noticing the guy sitting next to her. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Rory." He put his hand out towards him, Jeff shook it politely.

"I'm Jeff. Alice's boyfriend." He told him putting that out right away. Alice couldn't bare to look at either of them.

"Oh, her boyfriend."

"Yeah, her boyfriend."

The table fell silent, the tension could be felt from a mile away. "So how long have you two been seeing each other?" He questioned him.

"3 months." He said. "That's almost as long as the two of you dated."

"Fell in love you mean." Rory felt the need to add. Dated seemed so little compared to what they had actually had to him. It was something special and he still felt it now sitting near her being introduced to her 'new boyfriend'.

"Hm." Jeff mumbled not really giving him an answer.

"You know, we never technically broke up."

"Rory!" Alice exclaimed. "Can the two of you stop, please." She looked back and forth at them both.

"But Alice I-" Jeff began to speak.

"Please, just stop." She sighed, standing up. "I'm going to the bathroom." She left the table, feeling her eyes begin to water. Her whole body felt numb and heavy and her head was filled with an array of confusion. For the first time this year she had no idea what to do.

The next day Tanya wandered around her house, cleaning as her children were at school. She vaguely remembered how she used to clean as a distraction, seeing it as more of a chore and something she had to do these days. Her home was something she always worked hard on, she liked to keep it nicely decorated and just near spotless which was always hard to do when you were the mother of two busy teenagers. She smiled plumping the pillows in the living room, wondering why she did it when they were just going to come in and flatten them again. She was distracted from her thoughts when the doorbell rang, she quickly went to answer it.

"Hello." Said the man who, somehow, whenever he became a stranger appeared into her life again bringing back his complications.

"How can I help you Richard?" She questioned him not bothering to even put on a friendly tone.

"I just wanted to let you know that I am completely free of alcohol. I've started going to these meetings and seeing a therapist. I haven't had a drink in three months." He told her. This was the first time in what seemed like years, Tanya thought, that she had heard him sober.

"And you've come to tell me this why?" She asked.

"I want to be involved with my family again, I want to make it up to you." He said.

"What makes you think I want you anywhere near my family and I." She snapped. Part of her felt angry that he had even came and asked.

"Tanya, I'm sorry and I-"

"Are you really sure you'll be able to accept your children? This isn't just about you drinking Richard. If you want to be in your families life then you'll have to treat them right and love them no matter what." She told him.

"I.. I don't know." He mumbled.

"Well, that's not good enough. Bye Richard." She closed the door hearing him try to convince her not to but going quiet once it had slammed in his face. The heartbroken mother leaned against it, pushing herself to the floor where she sat and cried until she felt she could stand up again. She went back to cleaning immediately, using it as a distraction from what had just happened.

Alice walked through the doors to the auditorium where Rory had asked her to meet him after school. She smiled, seeing his grinning face. "Hello beautiful." He said like he always used to.

"Hi." She replied.

"We haven't had much of a chance to speak." He told her. "That's why I asked you here. How are you?"

"I'm great, thanks. You?" She answered.

"I'm amazing now that I'm here with you." He said, coming over to her and stroking her cheek. She took his hand, taking it down from her cheek slowly and let it drop. Rory looked down at his feet realising her rejection. "I never got over you."

"Rory, I have a boyfriend." She sighed, reminding him. Somehow she felt guilty, like she was meant to have waited for him.

"That Jeff guy? Do you love him?" He asked looking up at her again so he could read her face if she tried to lie.

"I... I do."

"You look unsure." He mentioned. Alice looked around feeling unable to find an answer to what he had just stated.

"I still love you, you know? I hoped every day that somehow or somewhere we'd meet again." He began to tell her. "When my dad said we were definitely moving to Lima I refused to go anywhere but McKinley and if you weren't there I was going to track you down in any way I could because I need you in my life Alice. I need you like I need air and you can't tell me you don't feel the same."

"It's complicated." She said feeling flustered and confused.

"If words can't convince you maybe this will." He said going into his pocket. "Close your eyes and put out your hand."

She did as he said and he placed the item into it. Alice opened her eyes and in her hand was the beaded bracelet she had made when she was 10 and had given to Rory to remember her by 2 days before he left. "You still kept this silly old thing." She shook her head.

"Yes, of course. It was the only part of you I had left, from the day you gave it to me to today I've taken it everywhere with me. It's not just some bracelet, it's your bracelet, that's what makes it special." He said.

"Oh Rory." Alice exclaimed, wrapping her arms around him. Tears started to fall from her eyes. "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too." He said squeezing her back, taking every last bit of it in. They slowly came halfway out of the hug, looking into one another's eyes. Neither could believe that this person was once again in their life. They leaned in and kissed, the chemistry rushing through them like an electric shock.

Coming out of it Alice began to back away. "I shouldn't have done that." She mumbled, her head shaking. Her eyes began to flow even more with waterfalls of tears. "I can't hurt him again. I'm sorry, Rory, I need to go."

"Alice!" Rory shouted but she was gone to quickly leaving him stranded in the auditorium, taking the bracelet with her.


	15. Chapter 15

Kurt skipped over to Blaine, kissing him on the cheek after getting himself a glass of water. Once again he was over at his boyfriends house. Blaine smiled up at him, "Again we're meant to be doing homework and you're providing your distractions." Blaine laughed quickly kissing him on the lips.

"That's why I'm here." He winked back at him then taking a seat at the breakfast bar next to him.

"It's not Math this time though." Blaine smiled. "But I guess this is what I get for asking you over."

"I'll leave if you don't want me here." Kurt joked. "I'll go speak to Alice."

"No of course I want you here and my guess is as soon as she hears your voice she'll come through anyway." Blaine laughed wrapping his arms around him and pulling him into a hug.

"Your family might as well adopt me!"

"I'm sure they'd love to." He giggled kissing him one more time before picking up his pencil again and going back to his homework.

"What subject are we doing again?" Kurt asked him.

"Geography."

"Geography," Kurt thought for a moment. "I don't even think I take that subject." Blaine shook his head, the two of them laughing.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" Alice walked into the kitchen with a small smile, she got a glass and poured herself a drink of orange juice before sitting across from them.

"Not so good, Blaine invited me over to do homework with him on a subject I don't even take." Kurt answered her giggling.

"He's also distracting me from it." Blaine added, Kurt pulling an offended face at him before the two burst into laughter again.

Alice laughed a little. "You two are so loved up." She told them.

"And how is your love life going Miss. Anderson?" Kurt wondered. "All loved up with Jeff?"

She looked down at her glass, sighing. Looking up quickly to see the curious faces of her brother and his boyfriend. "It's just weird for me, with Rory being back and all."

"Do you still love him?" Blaine asked her.

"I, I don't know." She said, pushing her hair back and taking a deep breath.

"What about Jeff?" Kurt questioned.

"I think I love him but Rory and I had something really special, I was completely in love with him and because that love never really ended…" She stopped herself before she ended up in tears. Her whole mind was completely confused, Rory coming back had been so sudden and unexpected and when he had talked to her in the auditorium her stomach had gone back into the butterflies it had been when she was with him. He had almost melted her heart with his words but she had feelings for Jeff, or at least she thought she did, and she didn't want to hurt him like she did before.

"All I'm going to say to you Alice," Kurt began, "is that you should follow your heart. Whatever it feels is the answer. Everything will come into place."

Blaine nodded beside him, wrapping his arm around his waist. "You need to figure it all out then act on it as soon as you can. Just don't do anything that you'll regret." Alice took their words in, bobbing her head along to what they were saying. Nothing I'll regret, she thought.

"Hey, Alice." Jeff greeted her meeting up with her outside the Lima Bean. He gave her a quick hug, grinning down at her.

"Hi." She said back to him smiling in return.

"So are we going to go inside?" He asked her putting his arm out for her to take.

"Not just now." She answered, giving him a chance to put his arm down before speaking again. "I want to talk to you more privately first."

"Go ahead." He said feeling slightly worried.

She didn't know quite where to start. "I can't be with you anymore." She began but got interrupted.

"Is this because of Rory?"

"Not because of him, because it would be unfair of me to stay with you when I still have feelings for him." She answered.

He nodded, looking down at his feet and kicking dirt up with his shoe. "I understand."

"You know I love you. Just not in the right way." She told him.

"Not the way you love him." He said.

She shook her head. "Jeff you're an amazing guy and one day you'll find a girl who can live up to that. Someone that won't hurt you as many times as I stupidly have. I am so sorry. I just can't hurt you again by pretending to feel something I don't." She exclaimed.

"It's fine Alice, honestly, I understand. I knew from the minute that Rory showed up again that you guys were still in love and I'd be an idiot for getting in between that." He said. Though he was upset about it, he took it, he had been expecting it all along. From the moment Alice told Jeff about Rory he knew that if he ever came back he wouldn't be able to do anything about it. She still had that gleam of love in her eyes, even when his name was casually mentioned.

"Thank you, Jeff." She hugged him this time and he held her for what he understood would possibly be the last time.

"How about we go for that coffee now?" He suggested. Alice nodded in reply. The two of them walked into the Lima Bean together and from then on would always be friends.

The next day at school, Alice met Rory again in the auditorium. This time she had asked him to come and meet her. He smiled approaching her with his hands almost nervously in his pockets. "Hey." She said.

"Hello beautiful." He smiled.

"I broke up with Jeff." She said, not even trying to make small talk before getting into what she was really there about.

"Oh, did you?" Rory couldn't help but grin.

"I still love you." She told him. "I never stopped, I just forgot about it because I had to. I want you back, if you want me."

"I want you back more than anything in the world Alice Anderson." He smiled wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her. They felt everything they had felt the day they had first kissed, the spark, the rush. Now there was nothing holding them back or stopping them. They were in love, there was no other guy or no leaving. Rory and Alice could finally happily be in love and it could now stay that way forever.


	16. Chapter 16

Ryan and Stacey sat on the couch in their increasingly small apartment, relaxing after putting their restless 4 month old son to bed. Parenthood was seeming more difficult than they thought, though neither of them regretted the beautiful, beaming, baby boy they had brought into the world. Stacey let out a sigh as Ryan put his arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. She gave him a small smile and he kissed he lightly on the cheek.

"Stacey, I've got some good news." He told her grinning.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" She wondered.

"Well, Burt has very kindly given me a promotion at the tyre shop!" He announced happily. 

"Oh my gosh, sweetie! That's great!" She exclaimed throwing her arms around him and squeezing him tight.

"I'll be bringing more money in for the family." He said. "I was also thinking that maybe we could try and save up for a house, or at least a bigger apartment. Kids grow up so fast and it'll be difficult trying to keep this place from turning upside down. What do you think?"

"That sounds great." She smiled. "Really great." She grinned up at him clapping her hands excitedly. The two couldn't have been happier, yes, life was tiring at the worst of times but as long as they stayed together they would always pull through. Ryan and Stacey would have never chosen this life for themselves in the past, however now they wondered why they ever thought that way if life could be great in such simple circumstances.

There was a knock on the door and Ryan jumped up to answer it, pulling it open quickly. The face smiled over at him. "Hi dad." He greeted him.

"Hello son." Richard replied.

"I'm afraid you just missed Tom, he's fast asleep." Ryan told him with a shrug. "But do you want to come in for some coffee?"

"I don't want to bother you." He said, shaking his head and beginning to turn away.

"Oh no, it's no bother. Come on in." Ryan answered him quickly.

"Thank you." Richard walked through the door, greeting Stacey and taking a seat on the one seated couch across from her. His son soon followed. Ryan had forgiven his father for the sake of his son. He had firmly told his dad that if he ever showed up drunk or was caught with alcohol on him he would be well and truly out of his life and Richard had agreed. Despite this deal made between them, Ryan had never gotten round to telling his mother and siblings about the situation. Maybe that was for the better, he had thought.

Alice opened up her locker shoving in last lessons books and taking out the books for the History lesson she had next. She noticed a small piece of paper falling out the locker and smiled reading it. 'Meet me in the auditorium after school - Rory'. Things had been going great since they had gotten together again. It was almost as if he had never left, the two of them going about as they had before. Shoving the note in her pocket she closed her locker and began to walk to class.

"Hello beautiful." Rory grinned walking towards her and swiftly taking her in his arms.

"Hello." She smirked. "I'll see you in the auditorium after school." She winked before hurrying off so that she wouldn't be late.

"Sure." Rory laughed walking the opposite way towards his own classroom feeling overly joyful to be able to be with his first love again.

That day after school Alice did just as the note said and came to the auditorium straight after her last lesson. She set her books down on the piano that was sat in the middle of the stage, jumping though she expected it when she heard a voice. "Hello Alice, thanks for coming."

She turned around, frowning. "What are you doing here?" She said.

"Well you weren't going to come and meet me if the note said Sebastian were you?" The Warbler smirked walking over to her with his hands in his pockets.

"What do you want?" She asked him in an angry tone.

"I wanted to talk to you." He began. "I feel as if that very short fling we had wasn't enough. You didn't provide as much fun as I had hoped."

She shook her head. "Did you get bored again or something?" She snapped, crossing her arms.

"A little." He sniggered. "You shouldn't pretend that you don't want this."

"I'm not pretending." She glared at him. "What happened between us was a huge mistake. It shouldn't have happened." The regret she felt towards the situation between the two of them had been something that she was finding hard to banish, she had decided to ignore it when it came to the clearing of her regrets resolution at the start of the year, realising now that that was not all to easy.

"Yes but it did." He replied coming closer to her. "I just don't think I really got what I wanted out of it." He took her face in his hands and went in for a kiss.

"Alice?" Rory came through to the stage, his heart pounding as he realised the whole scenario. She pushed Sebastian away quickly before his lips touched hers.

He sniggered turning to face her shocked boyfriend. "Hello there Rory, glad to be back from Ireland?" He teased him knowing that not only would it annoy him but it would annoy her.

"Oh I'm very glad, especially to be back with my girlfriend." He told him feeling angry. He had heard of Sebastian's ways but was slightly confused about the fact, being told he was gay, that he had been caught getting close to his girlfriend

"Oh yeah, she's very nice isn't she. So trustworthy." He smirked.

"Stop Sebastian." Alice said. "You should leave."

"But Alice, I've only just started." Sebastian answered as Rory glared over at him. Sebastian decided that the only way to get what he wanted was to jab at every soft spot he could. "Have you told your boyfriend about our little thing when he went away?"

"Sebastian, stop."

"You and him?" Rory questioned her.

"It was a mistake."

"Well to be perfectly honest she was having a low, hadn't been taking her tablets." Sebastian smiled enjoying watching the couples faces drop.

"You what?" Rory mumbled.

"I didn't think it was important to tell you. I'm sorry, Rory." Alice said her eyes starting to water. "Have you had enough now." She gestured towards Sebastian, who declined her offer to leave.

"If you haven't told him about that, I wonder what else you haven't told him!" He teased.

"Just stop it now." Alice said. "Please, Sebastian." She was getting desperate. There were so many things she had avoided saying to Rory when he came back, not wanting to ruin what they had.

"What's he talking about?" Rory asked her. She shook her head unable to answer.

"Well you see, Irish, your trustworthy little girlfriend over there isn't so trustworthy after all-"

"Why are you doing this?" Alice cried.

"The day of Regionals, right before the New Directions performed," Sebastian smirked ignoring Alice's question, "Alice and I kissed."

"Is that true?" Rory asked pushing past Sebastian to get to her.

"He kissed me, I pushed him away, I never wanted it to happen." She told him, putting her arms on his shoulders and looking right into his eyes. He looked away pushing her arms off of him and rushing off of the stage and out the door. "Rory!" She shouted after him away to run before Sebastian stopped her.

"I think it's best you let him go." He smirked down at her.

"Stay away from me you cocky idiot." She muttered angrily. He kept his grin, only upsetting her more. Quickly she slapped him across the face leaving him holding his cheek on the stage of the auditorium.

Kurt sat across from Blaine on the couch, once again at his house. Their relationship was strong as ever, sitting there by his boyfriends side Blaine couldn't have felt more safe. He took his hand in his and squeezed it.

"I love you." He smiled.

"And I love you." Kurt told him squeezing his hand back. They turned to face door as they hurt it crash shut. The two of them hurrying to see Alice rushing through.

"Woah, Alice, what's wrong?" Blaine stopped her in the hallway. She fell into his arms tears streaming down her face. "What's happened?" He questioned her again when she didn't answer.

"I don't even know how to begin to tell you." She sobbed into his chest. He lead her into the kitchen, Kurt following behind him and fetching her a glass of water. Slowly she began to tell them what happened, explaining the whole situation with Sebastian and painfully telling them about Rory's reaction.

"I'm so stupid." She cried covering her face with her hands. Blaine gave Kurt a worried look, unsure of how to help her and really just angry with Sebastian.

"Alice, this isn't your fault." Kurt told her.

"But I should have told him, I should have said something as soon as it happened."

"I think you just wanted to keep things happy, I can understand why you did it and Rory loves you enough to do that too." He continued to comfort her knowing that with the way Blaine must have been feeling, the only things that would escape from his lips were horrid, but true, comments on Sebastian.

"You think?" Alice wondered.

"Of course, Alice, what the two of you have is special. You've been through thinking that you would never see each other again to knowing that you could be together but having another person in the way, a stupid boy like Sebastian shouldn't get between you. That would be ridiculous. Rory just needs some time to think, I'm sure once he has everything figured out in his head he'll forgive you." Kurt smiled at her and she gave him a small smile back, quickly wiping the remainders of any tears from her  
>eyes.<p>

"Thank you, Kurt." She told him. "You help this family out so much, it's crazy." She laughed a little going over to him and hugging him. Blaine smiled too, placing one hand on his perfect boyfriends shoulder. Alice left the room and headed to hers leaving the couple alone once again.

"You're the best, you know that?" Blaine told Kurt kissing him on the cheek.

"I try." Kurt grinned before the two of them wondered back through to the living room, hand in hand, to continue with their movie watching.


	17. Chapter 17

Blaine wondered up the stairs to his brother and his wife's apartment tapping on the door lightly and waiting for an answer. It was opened slowly and not fully, Ryan just peeping his head through the door. "Hey." Blaine said, shooting him a slightly confused look.

"Oh hi Blaine." Ryan said that little bit to loudly. "We're kind of busy, do you mind coming back another time?"

"I don't mind." Blaine told him, though he was worried. "Is something going on?" He asked.

"Oh no, nothing, we're just busy." His brother continued.

"Doing what?" He continued to question him, realising the fake tone in his brothers voice.

"Uhm," Ryan hesitated looking for an answer. "Giving little Tommy a bath."

Blaine glared at him. Ryan knew his lie wasn't going to get past his brother. He would have to reveal the truth. "Fine." He said opening the door, allowing Blaine to see his father holding his nephew.

"What's he doing here?" He asked coming into the apartment angrily. Richard handed Tom to Stacey, who took him into the bedroom quickly. She didn't want her son to experience a family argument at such a young age.

"Hi Blaine." Richard said facing his son.

"Hi Blaine?" Blaine muttered. "Is that all you have to say, 'Hi Blaine', after you hurt me and the rest of the family?"

"But Blaine, I promise you that I've changed. I can't not have my family in my life." The desperate father begged.

"You should have thought about that before. It's not like you hurt us once, dad, for years you but us in misery. You can't just turn around one day and say that things will be different after so long."

"He has changed though." Ryan added. "He's not touched alcohol for months, I wouldn't let him see Tom otherwise."

"You're only so forgiving because you were the one who never got hurt." Blaine turned to him.

"Of course I was hurt Blaine, I had to see my whole family suffer every single day. You don't think that caused me any pain at all?" Ryan did his best not to shout for the sake of his son.

"You never had to go through what Alice, mom and I went through. You kept your secrets to yourself to stay safe, just like the way you weren't going to let me in the apartment right now." Blaine stated. "You are so lucky that I'm a good enough person not to tell the two of them about this. For once you just have to man-up and tell them yourself." With that he stormed out of the apartment and back down to the car. He fought back tears and couldn't decide whether he was upset or angry. He wanted to keep Tom safe, he didn't trust his father in the slightest. Promises had been broken so many times for him that it was difficult to let any more in.

"I shouldn't be here." Richard mumbled, also leaving the apartment.

"Wait, dad-" Ryan began, shaking his head as his father ignored him and rushed out of the door. He too, didn't know how to feel. Once again he began to wonder how his family had gotten into such a state.

It was time for Glee club and everyone began to gather in the choir room. Alice took a seat hoping that, when he came in, Rory would take the spare seat next to her. However, when he came through the door their eyes met for a second and he went to the opposite end of the room. She let out a sad sigh, doing her best not to cry. Once everyone had taken their seats Mr Shuester turned around and began to speak.

"Right everyone, Nationals are getting ever closer and we want to win this year. We need song ideas." He told them. "Alice, I asked you to think up some stuff for your solo this weekend. Have you got any ideas?"

Everyone in the room turned to look at her and she looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry, Mr Shue, my minds been in other places. I totally forgot." She sighed feeling completely stupid.

"That's fine, just as long as you come up with something soon." He smiled.

"I have a few ideas." Rachel said. "But they're more for my voice."

"Maybe Rachel should have the solo." Alice said. "Her minds more set than mine, it is her last year too."

"You have to believe in yourself more, Alice, you're amazing." Rory suddenly said. Alice smiled over at him and he gave her a small smile back. She felt better, hoping that this meant he was closer to forgiving her.

"Exactly," Mr Shuester continued, "Rachel will get her solo at the second part of Nationals if we can rank high enough to get there!" He turned to the board. "Now everyone, let's brainstorm."

Once again Alice found herself at her locker doing the usual routine of swapping books. Despite the small scene in the choir room, Rory still hadn't spoken to her all day and it was now lunch time. Her hope was falling again, that was until Rory came up beside her. The two of them went to talk at the same time, laughing awkwardly when the realised.

"You first." Alice said, feeling it was more important for him to say his part rather than her just making up more excuses for the stupid things she had done.

"I can understand why you did all those things." He began. "A majority of it wasn't even your fault, I know what Sebastian's like from what Kurt and Blaine have told me before and I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt me, at least not deliberately."

"So you forgive me?" She smiled up at him, so glad that he had understood.

"I love you, Alice, it would be stupid of me not to forgive you." He took her in his arms wondering how he even spent the weekend without her. Relief filled her as she hugged him back.

"I love you too, Rory." She kissed him quickly on the lips and the two of them set off together, happy as ever through the corridors of McKinley High.

"Would you look at that." Kurt smirked leaning again the locker next to Blaine's watching as Alice and Rory walked by them hand in hand. "Sorted in no time."

Blaine turned smiling at his boyfriend. "With a little help from a certain someone." He smirked, zipping his bag shut and closing his locker then leaning on it as Kurt was on the one next to him.

"At least we know that if I don't get into NYADA I have the slight chance at becoming a couples therapist." He laughed playing with the ends of the scarf he was wearing.

"The world will be missing out on one great therapist, however, they will be getting an even better star instead." Blaine said looking into the eyes of the man he loved so dearly.

Kurt blushed lightly looking back down at his scarf and changing the subject. "So how are things going in the life of my equally as bright star?" He wondered. Blaine sighed letting Kurt notice that things weren't extremely great. "What's up?"

"Well, Ryan is letting my dad see Tom." He told him.

"What? Is that even right?" Kurt looked at him, shocked that Ryan would do such a thing.

"Apparently he's sobered up so that he can be with the family again." He said rolling his eyes.

"And do you believe him?" Kurt asked.

"I believe that he's stopped drinking but that doesn't excuse the things he's done in the past. Plus, who know when he might get that temptation and start doing it again." He answered. "I just can't trust him."

"I understand. It's up to you whether this man is allowed to be part of your life again, whether he says he's sober or not." Kurt nodded. "I just didn't expect that of Ryan. He told my dad that he would never let him back in his life again."

"I really don't know, I didn't get the chance to speak to him about it properly. I was so angry. Just seeing his face again brought back so many bad memories." Blaine sighed.

The bell went to signify the end of the end of the lunch break. Quickly Kurt added. "I think you should talk to Ryan properly, see what his motives are."

Blaine nodded. "I will, thanks Kurt." He said before the two of them parted ways to go to their classes.


	18. Chapter 18

Blaine started the week with a list of things he had to do. On Monday evening he found himself once again in the corridors of Dalton Academy, an all boys school that he had spent his last day in almost a year ago, to cross of the first thing on his to do list. Sure he missed the school, the classes, the no bullying policy and especially his friends but transferring to McKinley had been a good decision. Kurt meant so much to him and he had to spend every possible minute he could with him before it became difficult for them to meet.

Either way none of these were the reasons why he was there. He didn't go to visit or for a favour. He went to speak to someone that, unlike the way he felt for Kurt, he wanted out of his life. He walked through to the room where he used to rehearse with the Warblers where, just as he had expected, the Warblers were all sitting.

"Hello everyone." Blaine smiled going further into the room with his hands in his pockets.

"Blaine!" Nick exclaimed coming over and greeting him, the rest of the group following their new leader.

"I was wondering if I could borrow Sebastian for a moment?" He asked him.

"Sure thing, buddy." He grinned as Sebastian, smirk already in it's place, followed him out of the room and through to the empty corridor.

"Hello Blaine. It's nice to see you again." Sebastian said, cocky as ever.

"Can't say the same for you." Blaine answered him, seeing the tall boy raise one slick eyebrow.

"So what do you want to speak to me about?" He asked, with less of a smirk than before.

"I'm sure you can guess by now." Blaine said. "You seem to be intent on making my sister a complete mess and I don't like it. She's been through enough."

"Well I'm sorry but I had to do something." He sniggered.

"Yes, maybe she should have told him sooner but it wasn't your move to make. She's an amazing person, I guess I can see why you would pursue her the way you are but I want you to stop." He told him.

Sebastian laughed. "You think it's really her I'm after?"

"What?"

"Think about it, how many times would I get to see you if it hadn't been for Alice." He said.

"So your saying you used my sister, you messed with her head and almost ruined the one good thing that's happened to her in a long time, just to see me one or two more times than you would have?" Blaine muttered feeling even more angry about the whole situation than he thought was possible.

"As I told her, I get what I want." He moved in a little closer. "And what I want is you, Blaine." He smirked, misjudging the fury that an older brother could feel when someone hurt his little sister.

"You've gotten what you wanted all your life haven't you, Sebastian?"

"I guess so." He laughed.

"You've never had to work for anything." Blaine went on.

"Yes, and your point is?"

"You must hate your parents then." Blaine let out a small sarcastic laugh and shook his head.

"What do you mean?"

"Well it's clear rather than expressing their love for you through words and hugs they just gave you what you wanted and let you be." He replied.

Sebastian scoffed. "And why would I care about that?"

"Because everyone does. I may come from a broken and slightly messed up family but even I know that." Blaine went on. "I feel so sorry for you." He put one hand on his shoulder.

"I don't need people feeling sorry for me." He muttered pushing his hand away and frowning. "I'm perfectly fine, thanks for the concern. Now if you don't mind I have to get back to rehearsing with The Warblers."

"Bye Sebastian." Blaine said, watching as Sebastian walked away, scared and confused about how this boy had managed to pull out one of his only insecurities. Happily, Blaine left Dalton knowing that he was one Warbler he wouldn't see in some time. Number one was fully cleared off of the list.

The next day Blaine sat at a table in the Lima Bean, however this time he wasn't sitting across from Kurt. He was sitting across from an empty seat, waiting for his brother Ryan to arrive. A few minutes later he rushed through the door spotting Blaine sitting at the empty table a cup in his hand. "Sorry I'm late." Ryan said taking the other seat. "Had to drop Stacey off at the supermarket with Tom."

"It's fine, how are things?" Blaine asked, genuinely curious.

"They're great! We're actually looking at houses now, managed to surprisingly save up quite a bit of money in the past few month or two and we think we might rent a place." He told him happily though he could guess the real reason why Blaine had asked him to meet.

"That's amazing, I'm happy for you." He told him.

"But you aren't happy with me, right?" Ryan said, deciding that if his brother wasn't going to get straight to the point he would do it for him.

"Not really." Blaine sighed looking down at the cup in his hand.

"I still don't trust him, not fully."

"Then why are you letting him see Tom?" Blaine questioned. "Why are you letting him back into your life again?"

"Because he really is trying, Blaine." He replied. "You should see him, he honestly hasn't touched a drop and he's become a much better person because of it."

"Alcohol wasn't what made him choose to not accept me for who I am." He stated speaking ever so slightly quieter.

Ryan paused for a moment, thinking of what to say to that. "But I think now he's realised just how important this family is."

"It's to late."

"It's never to late. I thought you would know that by now." They sat in silence for a while, the two of them just looking at one another and wondering about the possibilities.

"You need to speak to Alice and mom. I'm not telling them." Blaine told him.

Ryan nodded in reply. "So you're cool with it?" He said shooting him a small and hopeful smile.

"I'm not going to skip through fields with him hand in hand but if he can prove that he's changed for the better and stay that way then I'm willing to accept that, for the families sake." He agreed.

After talking for a while the brothers took a trip back to the home of Blaine, Alice and Tanya. Somewhere Ryan felt he hadn't been in quite a while. It was time for number 3 of the to do list to be crossed of, something that had fully depended on how meeting with Ryan went. So far all was going according to plan and now the other parts of his list were going to be drawn out based on the reactions of the female members of the family.

They made their way into the living room, greeting Alice and Tanya nervously. "Ryan!" Tanya squealed. "I feel as if I haven't seen you in ages, sweetie, how are you?"

"I'm great, mom, thanks for asking." He hugged her as she came over and wrapped her arms around him.

"No Stacey or Tom?" She wondered.

"No, just me today!" He told her with a smile. "I actually came to speak to you and Alice about something."

"Ok." Tanya said. "Why don't you take a seat then."

Once everyone was seated again, Ryan began to tell them about how Richard was now back in his life. He explained how it was mainly for Tom and just how much he really had changed. They both sat in silence, taking everything in as he spoke.

"And you're ok with this?" Alice asked Blaine, her face was stern.

"I guess so." He answered her.

They sat in an awkward silence for a while, no one knowing what to say. This was a family that had been through so much the year before all because of one man. Each one thought about what had happened in the past, how they had once been so happy and just how great things had been since he left.

"I'm sorry, I need a moment." Alice said rushing out of the room quickly, ignoring the sounds of her brothers calling after her. Light thuds were heard in the living room as she made her way upstairs and to her room.

"Should I go talk to her?" Ryan asked.

"No just leave her for a while, if she hasn't come back down by the time you've left I'll speak to her." Blaine told him, Ryan nodding knowing that if anyone could convince Alice and make her feel better it would be Blaine.

Tanya cleared her throat, bringing the boys attention so her as she stated what she thought. "Ryan, I am perfectly happy for you to let your father back into your life, especially if it's what you think is best for Tom. However, the only time I will deal with him will be on special occasions, like Tom's birthday or Christmas. All I ask is that you keep a close eye on him. I don't want that child to go through what this family had to."

"I promise." Ryan said understanding his mothers choice. The whole situation had to be different for her. He was her ex-husband and she had no intention of seeing him if she didn't have to. He had hurt her enough in the time they were together and she wasn't going to let herself fall into that again.

After a while of sitting in silences and making small talk Ryan decided to go home where his wife would be waiting for him after coming home herself from the supermarket. He said his goodbyes leaving Blaine downstairs with Tanya. "Are you going to speak to Alice now?" She asked him.

He nodded. "It's best if I do."

Tanya smiled. "I'll go make up some dinner whilst you two talk." With that she headed towards the kitchen.

Blaine went forward to do phase 4 of his list. Knowing his younger sister like he did he guessed that she might need some form of comfort after the situation was revealed. He didn't blame her for it, really she had reacted in the same way that he had when he first found out. He knocked lightly on her door, opening it without giving her a chance to answer. Alice was sat on her bed, her head down watching as she typed something in on her cell phone.

"Are you ok?" Blaine wondered though he knew the likely answer.

She quickly hit send, wiping her eyes and pushing her hair away from her face. "Not really." She told him. "It's just a bit of a shock, that's all."

"Other than that how do you feel about the whole thing?" He asked her, taking a seat next to her quickly taking a peak at her phone as any curious older brother would do and noticing she was texting Rory.

She turned it over, seeing Blaine's eyes quickly glance at it. "I just think that it's a little weird." She replied.

"I can understand that."

"I guess I know why he did it but I don't know if I want to be dragged into it. I don't want to be hurt again, Blaine, how are you dealing with it so well?"

"To be honest I'm not but he's our father and if he really is willing to change to get us back into his life that has to count for something, right?" He said though he wasn't really sure of what he was saying. He wanted so badly for things to be the way they were but another part of him always had all the bad things that happened playing on a loop.

"I don't know, Blaine." She sighed. "Can I just have some time to think the whole thing through?"

"Take as much time as you want." He quickly gave her a hug. "Now, what's Rory saying?" Blaine teased.

She pushed him away, grabbed a pillow from the top of the bed and hit him with it. "I knew you looked at my phone!"

He laughed. "I'm only doing what an older brother would do!"

"What, be nosey?"

"Exactly!"

She hit him again though he only teased her more. Her older brother knew how to get her mind of things and put her in a better mood. Through everything their relationship had always been strong and they were both thankful for that and would be for the rest of their lives. Hearing Tanya calling them down, they jumped off of the dead and headed to the kitchen laughing and joking all the way there.


	19. Chapter 19

"I'm nervous." Alice whispered as though the world would hear her if she spoke normally.

"Don't worry about it, seriously." Rory smiled, finding her utterly adorable. One of her hands was tightly gripping his. "Are you ready?" He asked, placing one hand on the door handle.

"No."

"Great." He said opening it and pulling her inside. She closed the door and walked nervously behind him as they made their way through the house of the Flanagan's and into the kitchen.

"Hello mum!" Rory greeted a short, slightly plump, brunette woman who was chopping some vegetables on the kitchen counter.

She turned around showing a bright smile. "Hello, son!"

He walked over to her, leaving Alice smiling at the doorway, and hugged his mother before turning to face his girlfriend again. "This is Alice." He told her.

"Oh hello sweetheart!" She walked over and threw her arms around her. "I'm Suzanne, it's wonderful to meet you!"

"You too!" Alice answered her, hugging her back feeling strangely more comfortable than she had before.

"The rest of the gang will be home just shortly," She said, turning back round to face one of her sons, "Your fathers taken them out for a bit but they're on their way back."

"Good, good." He answered. "We'll just go wait in the living room." Rory took Alice's hand again walking her through the house. His mother watched them, a grin on her face.

"See, it wasn't that bad, was it?" He said, the two of them sitting next to each other on his couch.

"She's lovely." She told him. "I'm just a bit shy."

"You, shy?" He laughed. "You're one of the most confident people I've ever met." She shook her head, blushing. A few minutes later the living room door opened, a tall, red-faced man walked through hand-in-hand with a little girl with the same red cheeks.

Rory and Alice stood up almost immediately, do continue the routine of introducing the girlfriend to the family. "Hi dad," Rory said, "This is Alice."

"Hello, I'm John." He smiled, happily shaking her hand.

"Nice to meet you." She smiled back up at him.

Rory picked up the small girl, who held onto him tight staring at the new face of a stranger. "And this is Erin! Say hi to Alice, Erin." She put her head on his shoulder covering her face shyly. "So this is another one who acts shy then."

Alice giggled. "There's no need to be shy around me, sweetie." She said in that high baby voice you only used around kids. Erin peeked up at her. "There she is!" She exclaimed, making the girl giggle and hide again.

Just then 3 more faces came through the door, each one being introduced to Alice. First Rory's older brother Dillon, who had the same bright blue eye's as him and a bright smile to match, he was very cheerful unlike his more serious twin sister Aileen. Despite not being as joyful she greeted Alice with a smile and took a seat next to her father on the sofa opposite. She was followed by the youngest boy of the family, Seamus, a hyper-active ten year old who introduced himself to his brothers girlfriend then asked "Can I go play with my cars now?"

"Rory talks about you all the time, so it's great that we can finally meet you!" Dillon laughed, teasing his younger brother.

"Oh does he?" Alice smirked, playing along. "It's all good I hope!"

"Of course, the only problem is it's all that ever comes out of his mouth nowadays!" Dillon continued.

"You can shut up now." Rory said, embarrassed though he couldn't help but laugh himself.

"Oh no, feel free to go into full detail!" She laughed, putting on hand on Rory's shoulder. "Anything you've told your family can't be different to what you've told me, right?"

"Right." Rory grinned.

"But I have all the stories, like when he begged mum to let him go to McKinley. He was literally on his hands and knees-"

"Right, that's enough teasing from you!" Aileen giggled shaking her head. "Come with me to help mum, will you?"

"Whatever you say, sis." He rolled his eyes over-dramatically at Alice and followed her out of the room again.

"I do apologise for my family!" Rory's father, John said a crooked grin on his red face.

"I think they're lovely." She told him, turning to smile at Rory. Seeing him around his family was like seeing a totally different person to Alice. The sweetness of how he acted with his little sister, the joking-ways he had with his brother, just by looking at them all she could tell they were very close. She suddenly realised the pain he must have felt the whole time he was away from them and couldn't imagine what it must have been like. This thought made up her mind. She wanted to at least try and make things better with her father. The Anderson family had once been just like the Flanagan's, nothing but smiles and laughter. Having that back, or at least something close to it, would be better than nothing at all.

Alice stayed and ate dinner with the family, everyone sat and ate happily, joking and chatting all the way through the meal. Everyone complimented Suzanne on her great cooking once the meal was over and Alice kindly offered to help her with the cleaning up afterwards. Rory joined the rest of his family in the living room, leaving Alice in the kitchen with his mother.

"Thank you for helping, sweetie, you really didn't have to." Suzanne said, hanging her a freshly cleaned plate from the sink to dry.

"Honestly, it's fine. It's the least I can do, you've all been so great towards me and the food was amazing!" She told her.

Suzanne smiled. "Rory really is fond of you." She decided to say. Alice smiled back hoping that she didn't see her blush. "You know when he came home after his foreign exchange schooling it was like seeing a totally different person."

"Really?" Alice replied.

"Yeah, it was a good change though. He really matured, I could tell on the phone when we talked but it hit me more when we met him at the airport. At first I thought it might have been living away from the family but he went on about you so much." She answered. Alice let out a small laugh, unsure of what to say to that. "Young love, eh?" The two of them laughed for a bit and went on chatting as they cleaned up all the dishes.

Alice spent another hour or so before heading home, Rory demanding her to let him walk her back. "I told you that you had nothing to worry about!" He said as soon as they were at the top of the path and walking along the pavement, her hand in his.

"I know, I know." She giggled.

"I think that really I had more to worry about than you." He smirked thinking of how his family had tried to embarrass him all evening with endless stories, his mother even threatening to bring out the baby photos. A plan which failed when she realised she must have but them in the attic when the moved in.

"I am going to see those photos one day, so you better worry." She joked.

He shook his head, moving on from the topic. "How are things going at home?" He asked her.

"They're ok, it's just the whole dad thing." She told him, looking down at her feet.

"Still not made up your mind?" He wondered.

"Actually, today I kind of decided that it might be better if I at least try and make things up with him. If Blaine is brave enough to do it then why shouldn't I?"

"That's good, as long as you're sure it's really what you want." He replied.

"It is." She answered him. She hoped so much that things would go well but if it all just went wrong again at least she could say she tried. Of course the situation wouldn't be as great as it was in the past but it couldn't get any worse, could it?

The next day Tanya, Blaine, Ryan and Alice sat in the living room of the tiny apartment Richard had been renting. The whole situation had been quite awkward for the family, however, if they were going to make it work they had to sit down and discuss everything. Richard had to have a chance to speak to them himself and explain his intentions. He came through from his equally tiny kitchen with drinks for them and took a seat next to Ryan.

"Thanks for coming." He said. "I really appreciate you all giving me this chance, though I don't deserve it." Tanya, Blaine and Alice stayed silent, knowing that if they replied it would be a rude or sarcastic comment that it would only be uncomfortable to hear.

"Why don't you explain to them what you did to me?" Ryan suggested, starting up the talking session they had planned.

Richard nodded and paused to think before starting. "First of all I really want to say how truly sorry I am for treating you all the way I did, it was so stupid of me and I realise now just how bad it was. That's why I want you in my life now, so that I can make up for all those things I did. I'm not asking for you to forgive or trust me right away, I want to work on making things better. When I lost you, I began to lose everything, my job, my car but that didn't matter to me, all I cared about was my family and that was a major part in why I stopped drinking-"

"So we weren't the only reason?" Alice questioned him.

"I'd like to say that you were but I actually had to go into hospital for a while. I was diagnosed with acute liver disease because I'd been drinking for quite a long period of time. They said I was lucky that I had came in then." He told them, they all stared.

"You were in hospital and you didn't tell us?" Blaine said, feeling worried now.

"I didn't think you guys would want to know." He answered. "But the whole thing, it made me realise how precious life was. How precious you are all to me. I don't want to waste any time I have left to spend with you guys. At the end of the day you're my family, I may not agree with some of the choices you make or the person you've become but I'm going to have to accept that."

Alice and Blaine glanced over at one another, both sharing small smiles. They could see that he had changed for the better, they saw it in the way he acted and the way he spoke. His words were no longer a painful slur of alcohol and he sat almost nervously. However, Tanya was still not sure. She had once trusted this man so dearly, she had to to marry him the first place, but he had brought her down so many times and worst of all he had hurt her family. She didn't know if she was willing to let him back into her life properly but for the sake of their children and their grandson she would make some effort to make life easier for them.

The family agreed as a whole to try and sort things out. This was only one step in building up the relationship between them all as there were still some major aspects that needed to be worked on before they could learn to trust one another fully again. Despite this it was a start, they parted ways all feeling a little better. Things were finally looking hopeful again.


	20. Chapter 20

Kurt, Blaine, Finn, Rachel, Alice and Rory all sat around a large table at Breadstix after school on Friday night. Nationals was only a week away and they were all hyped up and ready to go to Hollywood. "Speaking of Nationals brings me back to New York," Kurt began, "Which also leads me to announcing a certain little bit of information!"

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Alice asked leaning on the table with one hand on her chin.

"Well," he paused before announcing excitedly, "I've been accepted into NYADA!" The whole table clapped and cheered, congratulating him on his acceptance. Blaine did the same though he had been with Kurt when he opened the letter and had already congratulated him many times though the two of them were avoiding one particular thing about him going to New York after summer.

"That's funny," said Rachel, "because I have also been accepted into NYADA!" The pair squealed, grins on both of their faces, they quickly walked over to hug one another both extremely happy that they would be together throughout the college experience.

"I thought I heard some familiar screams." A voice sad coming over to the table, it was Nick the Warbler, followed by a few other known faces dressed in blazers including Jeff and Sebastian. The table cheered again greeting them all.

"How are you guys?" He asked them. "Ready for Nationals?"

"Ready as ever!" Finn told them.

"I heard a certain someone is getting a solo this year!" Jeff smirked.

Everyone clapped and laughed again, not caring for the looks of the people around them. Alice grinned, blushing a little. "Well, I'll have a solo as long as I don't pass out before the performance." She giggled.

"You'll do great, Alice." He told her. Alice became aware of Rory putting his arm around her waist, after all this time he was still quite protective of her. Especially with Jeff with what had happened at the start of the year.

"You're awfully quiet for once, Sebastian." Blaine suddenly said, everyone going quiet and looking back and forth at the two of them.

Kurt gave Blaine a funny look but went along with him. "That's just what I was thinking."

"I guess I just don't have much to say." He said, missing that infamous smirk he usually had. Before anyone else had a chance to say anything to him he rushed off to the bathroom.

"Did I say something wrong?" Blaine questioned sarcastically. Alice and Kurt glared at him in confusion both feeling that what had just happened there was something they ought to know about but didn't.

Nick laughed awkwardly. "Well we're going to go and get a table. Bye for now!" He said, the other Warblers said their goodbyes and followed after him. The group got on with their chatting ignoring the situation that had just occurred, digging into their meals that came shortly after then leaving one another outside. Alice, Kurt and Blaine all heading to the Anderson household. Blaine figured that he would be in for a grilling when they got back.

The three of them arrived at the house in no time after been driven there by Blaine, immediately Kurt pulled Blaine into the kitchen, Alice following after them. "What was up with that little bitch fest?" She questioned him, taking a seat at the breakfast bar.

Kurt leaned against the counter, Blaine by his side. "What do you mean?" He said though he knew exactly what she meant.

"Oh you know, Blaine." Kurt told him. "Sebastian ran off so fast back there!"

"I had a little run in with him a few weeks ago-"

"A few weeks ago? And you didn't tell me?" Kurt exclaimed.

"He didn't tell me about this either!" Alice added. Kurt wondered over and sat next to her so that Blaine could tell them properly what went on.

"I was mad about what happened with Alice, not to mention the way he's been bothering us." He told them. "So I went to Dalton and pretty much told him straight to stay away from us all."

"You can't have just said that, I've told him to stay away a lot and he's never acted like that." Alice said. "He was acting like a frightened little boy."

"That because that's what he really is." Blaine stated.

"Go on." Kurt pushed him.

"Well at first I went to his house to confront him, thinking that it might be a little more private I was just going to tell him to back off and hope it worked. His mom answered and when I asked if he was in she simply said 'I have no clue where he is, some singing club or something'. That's when it hit me, Sebastian was one of those kids that never got real attention from his parents and when I asked him about it he totally freaked out."

"Oh gosh, that completely makes sense." Alice looked down at the table, the situation really explained why Sebastian acted the way he did, though it was no excuse she almost felt sorry for him.

"And he's avoided you since?" Kurt asked. Blaine nodded in reply. "I still don't get why you didn't tell us sooner, or invite me for that matter."

Blaine laughed. "I just thought it was better that I do it alone, so he doesn't see it at some sort of challenge."

"True." Kurt agreed though he was still disappointed that he had kept it from him. Either way they all continued to discuss the whole idea soon moving on to another conversation and deciding to go watch a movie. They all felt safe in the fact that Sebastian wouldn't be bothering them again for a long time, especially now that they had the story they needed to understand, even if only slightly, what he was doing and why.

Sitting next to one another at a table in the school canteen Blaine and Kurt found themselves poking at the interesting meals on their plates in silence. "I still don't understand why you're mad at me." Blaine mumbled.

"I'm not mad." Kurt snapped.

"Doesn't seem like it."

"I'm just upset." He said.

"But why?" Blaine questioned him.

"You can't just say stuff like that."

"Like what?"

Kurt sighed, realising that this was likely just to be a way of getting him to speak to him again. "Look, you can't doubt me the way you did back there." He told him, thinking back to when Blaine had questioned him about NYADA that morning. He knew that Blaine was feeling tense about and that it was likely he would worry but he also needed to realise that Kurt was worried about the distance it would create between them too. Finally he turned to face him and look his boyfriend in the eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'm just-"

"Worried I know. I am too. Don't you think it will be hard for me being in New York whilst you're stuck here finishing school?" He replied.

"I know, I'm sorry, it's just been getting to me for a while. I want you in my life all the time, Kurt." He said almost whispering and stopping himself from welling up.

"And I want you in my life too, Blaine. We're going to make this work. I'll come and visit at every opportunity I get and I know you'll do the same because we love one another. Technology is amazing these days so I will always be in contact." Kurt promised. "Tell me you want that too?"

"Of course I do." Blaine said, looking deep into his eyes. "I'm just going to miss you, that's all."

"I'll miss you as well, more than anything." Kurt took Blaine's hand and squeezed it, not caring for any looks they got. Their relationship was beyond that. Blaine smiled, squeezing his hand back to let him know that everything would be alright. 


	21. Chapter 21

After a flight to Hollywood and a night cramped into 2 bedrooms the New Directions were finally waiting in the massive green room of the equally huge building where show choirs from all over America were battling it out to gain a place in the top 10 list who would be performing yet again to possibly win Nationals. Everyone sat nervously, excitedly chatting. "We're on in 5 guys!" Mr Shuester announced, letting the group know to quickly prepare themselves.

"You ready?" Rachel asked Alice, who was standing next to her at the back of the room.

Alice took a deep breath. "I'm so nervous, I'm shaking." She mumbled quickly.

"Don't be, you're going to do amazing!" She told her. Alice would be the first of the New Directions to hit the stage, performing her solo where the rest of the group planned to come in halfway.

"What are you two talking about?" Rory asked them coming over with a grin.

"The fact that I am so terrified." Alice groaned. "I feel sick."

"Alice!" Rory exclaimed. "You have more confidence than that, you can do this."

"What if I pass out on stage?"

"You won't, I promise." he told her. "When you're out there just think about us and everyone we're proving wrong. Look for that comfort zone and if worst comes to worst just picture everyone in their underwear." Alice giggled. "See it's already working." He took her hand holding it tight.

"Alice it's time." Mr. Shuester said, "Everyone get backstage and be ready for the cue. Let's do this guys!"

"Good luck." Rory whispered before Alice ran off to take her place on the stage.

The whole place was dark, with one or two dim lights out in the audience. She could feel the rush of nerves flowing through her and for a moment felt like running back off and telling Rachel to take her place but then she remembered what Rory had said and instantly she felt more confident. During the performance she thought of Rory watching her backstage, grinning at him when the rest of the group came to join her. The song was over and Alice could hardly believe her eyes as the whole audience stood on their feet and cheered them all on, her nerves finally settled as she ran to her place within the crowd of performers and the group number started. Now, during every step they took the audience cheered and clapped along, waving their arms and dancing to the beat, a roar as they finished up and left the stage.

The New Directions were ecstatic, complimenting one another on how great they had been, smiles on each and every one of their faces. "See, there was nothing to worry about." Rory said taking Alice in his arms and kissing her on the cheek. "You were amazing out there!"

"You think?" She replied still trying to get her breath back.

"I know." He smiled.

She laughed pulling him into another tight hug. "Thank you, Rory. I couldn't have done it without you."

Once again tension built up as they awaited the board of the names of the ten winning show choirs to be put up. "We've got this one, I know it." Kurt exclaimed, clapping excitedly.

"I have a really good feeling about it." Rachel added, the two of them grinning at one another as their boyfriends stood by their side.

"You all did great but after last year I wouldn't get your hopes up to high. We don't want another drama." Mr. Shuester said, reminding them of the arguments that went on after they didn't make the leader board last year.

There were suddenly squeals of joy coming from the middle of the room, telling them that the leader board must have been up. They watched as the faces of disappointed and extremely excited teams came past them, their hearts all tensely beating. "Let's go." Finn said, following after Mr. Shuester, who unlike the rest of them had already started to head off towards their fate. Finally they stood there in front of it, staring for a while before all letting out sighs of relief, screaming and jumping around in happiness as on the leader board, placed a nice 3rd, were the New Directions.

The girls, Kurt and Blaine sat in their hotel room discussing how they were going to beat the other show choirs and grab the first place trophy. Everyone was feeling very hopeful and confident after being placed 3rd. They had already prepared for winning the first part of nationals, practising a solo from Rachel who would then go on to duet with Kurt and after that the whole group would move onto a girls vs. boys sing off to finish up and wow the judges with their remarkable skills.

The rest of the boys were feeling even more competitive and ecstatic about getting into the final part of Nationals. Being as they usually were, rowdy and energetic.

The next day they waited on stage, breathing heavily, for the results of the second Nationals competition. All the excitement was now taken over by a fresh batch of nerves. They held onto one another for comfort, tensing up as the host walked on stage with an envelope and a microphone in hand. Slowly she went down the list, tenth, ninth, eighth, still no sign of the New Directions, seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth. She then asked for the groups to all leave the stage, prolonging the announcement of the winner even longer.

"In third place," She said. "Rover High's Bee's Knees!" The group cheered, the audience clapping. They seemed glad to have made it so far, holding their third place trophy up high. The members of New Directions looked at one another, their stomachs filling with butterflies. They were so close to winning.

"And finally, the winner of this years National show choir competition is," She paused for what seemed like almost ten minutes before finally announcing, "McKinley High's New Directions!"

The whole moment felt as if it was played in slow motion. Everyone jumping up and down in pure excitement, their hearts racing from the rush of it all and the crowd cheered and clapped. Mr Shuester took their over sized trophy from the man handing it out, shaking his hand before thrusting the trophy into the air proudly as the group hugged and congratulated one another, feeling as if nothing could bring them down.


	22. Chapter 22

"Senior year has been completely amazing." Kurt said, walking with Blaine to the car park after his last full day at McKinley.

"I'm glad." Blaine told him, taking his arm and squeezing it.

"You know it's all down to you, if you hadn't moved to McKinley it wouldn't have been as special. I haven't thanked you enough for that." He smiled, thinking about the past year and just how well it had went despite the few bumps along the road.

"There's no need to thank me." He replied. "I should be thanking you, this was probably the best decision I've ever made."

Kurt sighed happily as they got into his car, ready to catch some early dinner at Breadstix with his boyfriend. He kept thinking of all the great times they had spent together and all the love he felt for him. This all brought him to realise just how much he would really miss him, they had spent so much time together since they became boyfriends and now they were going to be living miles away from one another.

~~~~~~~~~~

"You've come to the right girl." Alice told Kurt, sitting across from him at a table in the Lima Bean in the first week of summer. "I haven't been in a long distance relationship but you and Blaine will be within affordable travelling distance. Not to mention the fact you have family in Lima who will also visit you regularly and will probably ask Blaine if he wants to come along too. You guys are so in love, I don't see that fading just because of a silly little distance. You have nothing to worry about."

"Very true." Kurt nodded. He knew the best person to speak to about his worries was Alice. Especially since she had been through a slightly similar situation of separation.

"Look at Rory and I now!" She said. "We were away from each other for months, I even dated another guy and we still ended up getting back together. Think about the possibilities if the two of you stay together throughout this, how amazing it will be seeing each other again and again after your short whiles apart!"

"You are absolutely right." Kurt agreed wondering what he had ever worried about in the first place. "I also know that Blaine will have an amazing sister taking care of him for me!" He added.

Alice smiled. "I do try." She laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~~

For the rest of the summer Kurt and Blaine spent as much time as they possibly could together, even if it was just a day in watching a movie or hanging out with nothing to do. They made sure every moment was precious so that they could remember it if they ever felt lonely or like they missed the other person so much. However, time seemed to pass so fast and soon summer was nearing an end and Blaine found himself standing outside the Hummel's house, Alice and Kurt's family by his side.

Finn and Rachel were in the same situation, the only difference being that Finn was no longer in school but helping to run Burt's tyre shop. He too stood by Blaine's side, ready to wave Rachel and his step-brother away as they went and lived their dreams in New York.

Soon Kurt and Rachel had managed to stash case after case of their things into the back of Kurt's father, Burt's car and were ready to say their goodbyes. Slowly they made their way through the people, Rachel's dads standing at one side of the pavement in tears as their beloved star of a daughter hugged them also crying. She gave Alice and Blaine a hug, telling them both she'd miss them and keep in contact before rushing over to Finn.

Kurt saved Blaine for last, holding Alice tight with tears in his eyes before saying his hardest goodbye. Alice wiped a tear from her own eye, quickly leaving the two of them alone so they could have some privacy. He finally burst, sobbing as he hugged Blaine who did the same. He could never have imagined the pain of leaving him.

"I love you Blaine." He mumbled into his shoulder, holding him even tighter. "I'm going to miss you so, so much."

"I love you too." He replied. "We'll see each other very soon, I promise."

Kurt came forward looking him in the eyes and giving him a small smile before leaning in and kissing him for what could be the last time in a while. They stayed there in that moment for as long as they could, not wanting to let go of it.

"Bye." Kurt whispered, his arms still wrapped around Blaine's neck and their foreheads still placed together.

"Bye, Kurt." Blaine mumbled. Slowly, they let go of each other giving Kurt the chance to get into the front passenger seat of his dad's car, Rachel in the back as everyone else waved them away.

Alice walked back over to Blaine who was still stood staring in the cars direction though it was now out of sight. She put her arm around his waist, "Are you ok?" She asked him, though she knew it was a stupid question.

"I will be." He told her.

Meanwhile back at the Anderson household, Tanya rushed to the front door opening it with a grin. The face she met did not phase her and she happily invited them in. Richard grinned back at her, closing the door behind him and pulling her closer by the waist. She felt the excitement rush through her, she felt like a teenager again as she put her arms around his neck.

"Hello, Tanya." He smiled down at her, feeling the attraction he had once felt all those years ago when they had first met.

"Hey, Richard." She giggled as he leaned in closer and put his lips against hers. The once worried woman happily kissed her ex-husband, who not so long ago she had felt so much hatred for, wondering how exactly they were going to tell their children about them getting back together.

**Well, that's it! We've come to the end of The Anderson Family Values! Thank you to everyone who's read it, I hope you've enjoyed it. Feel free to tell me what you think in my reviews or on my twitter page, which is linked on my profile, also if you have any questions or recommendations of any fan fiction you'd like to see me do let me know! There will be a sequel to this at the start of the new year (2012)! Again, thanks for reading! **


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